What is water security?

Water insecurity is one of the greatest risks to global prosperity. Global water consumption has doubled every 20 years, and by 2025, at least two-thirds of the world’s population will likely be living in water stressed areas.

WHAT IS WATER SECURITY?

Societies can enjoy water security when they successfully manage their water resources and services to meet the needs of each dimension of water security.

  • Domestic Water Security: Providing all people with reliable, safe water and sanitation services.
  • Economic Water Security: Productive use of water to sustain economic growth in the food production, industry and energy sectors of the economy.
  • Urban Water Security: Creation of better water management and services to support vibrant and livable water-sensitive cities.
  • Environmental Water Management: Health of rivers & aquifers and measurement of progress on restoring rivers, aquifers and ecosystems to health on a national and regional scale.
  • Resilience to water related natural disasters: Building of resilient communities that can adapt to change and are able to reduce risk from natural disasters related to water and to minimize the impact of future disasters.
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An illustration of the 5 dimensions of water security

WHY IS WATER SECURITY IMPORTANT?

Water insecurity is one of the greatest risks to global prosperity as it plays an integral role in our daily lives.

  • AGRICULTURE

    Water is a fundamental need for producing the food we eat. Agriculture alone is the largest consumer of supplies of water around the world.

  • ENERGY

    Water and energy are intricately linked. All sources of energy require water as part of their production processes. Water is needed to extract raw materials, cool thermal processes, power turbines, cultivate crops for biofuels, and more.

  • INDUSTRY

    Water is important to nearly every business stakeholder. Water is critical to health, real estate markets, jobs, and recreation. Water is a key ingredient in nearly every industrial product. It is used for cleaning, rinsing, and cooling in industrial processes and power generation. It serves as a conduit for waste and transportation and is required to sustain economic growth in food production, industry, and energy.

  • HOUSEHOLD

    Water is critical for households around the world. Societies require a potable water supply and sanitation services to thrive.

  • ECOSYSTEMS

    Water is fundamental for sustaining the integrity of ecosystems from which our water supply is derived and therefore on which we all depend.

PRESERVING ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY

Water security is more than providing water of a sufficient quality and quantity to meet the needs of agriculture, industry, energy, and households.

Preserving the integrity of environmental systems is critical to all dimensions.

Natural systems generate, filter, and regulate water supplies around the world.

The challenge facing us today is that many of these systems are becoming deteriorated beyond their ability to provide those services at their most basic level, significantly impacting water security.

Without healthy ecosystems, all dimensions of water security are in jeopardy.

Investing in the protection and restoration of river systems is therefore not only a part of the solution for achieving water security, it is the foundation.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR WATER SECURITY?

Investing in the protection and restoration of river systems is not only a critical part of almost all water security solutions for improving human well-being, it is one of the largest, long-term and most cost-effective solutions for helping both societies and nature to thrive together.

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The integrity of many natural systems around the world is under threat.

Learn how you can take action by uniting with others in your region to protect water at its source: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS.