drinking water

Drinking Water: The Next Big Crisis

For decades water access has been a slow-growing crisis as many parts of the world struggle to secure clean, reliable supplies.

In developing communities across Africa and South Asia, usually it's women who average a half an hour getting each and every bucket of water.

Farmers, unable to effectively water their crops, produce less and rely more on synthetic fertilizers which, in turn, further contaminate already precious supplies.

Flint, Michigan achieved notoriety for the leaded tap water that poisoned a city, but rural communities have dealt with similar problems for generations.

Cape Town has watched its largest reservoir slowly dry up with "Day Zero," the day the city will simply run out of water, approaching in 2019.

The World Bank estimates that a city needs about 1,000 cubic meters of fresh water per person per year to maintain adequate supplies.

In 2015, Sao Paulo had less than three weeks of water left before having to turn off access for the entire city.

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