Considering the current water crisis in the world, we have prepared a list of 10 countries that will run out of water in 20 years.
Lack of adequate water resources, inequitable distribution and water wastage mean that the water crisis does not only exists, but is in fact, prevalent around the globe. Despite the fact that a large portion of the Earth is covered with water, only 2.5% of that is deemed fresh and suitable for direct human use. But not all of this is available, as much of it is confined to snowfields and glaciers, meaning that only a meager 1% is present in convenient locations. Though certain countries are blessed with extensive drainage features and are ensured a certain amount of rainfall or melting of snow every year, which replenishes them, many face widespread drought and extreme water scarcity, of which we have mentioned ten on our list.
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Surprisingly, climate change is also responsible for this water crisis to a great extent. Increasing temperatures means that the rate of evaporation is rising, causing droughts. Another problem resulting from this is that precipitation will most likely be in the form of rain instead of snow. Although this might not seem like a problem, the reality is that heavy rains mean that reservoirs quickly fill up to their full capacity and much of the water is lost as run-off, whereas snowfall means that water can be gradually obtained as snow melts. Of course due to the severe climate changes, some countries will face the problem from the other side of the spectrum – too much water. If you are interested to read about this serious issue as well, take a look at the 10 countries that will be underwater due to global warming.
To compile our list of countries that will run out of water in 20 years, we took the countries with the highest expected water stress levels as projected by the World Resources Institute. They have been calculated with the help of average withdrawals and supply of the respective countries, 1 being the lowest and 5 indicating extremely high. Although several developed countries like Singapore and Israel have high water stress levels as per our source, we have excluded them for they are stable economies and have sufficient resources to deal with their water shortages. As stated in the Seametrics Blog, a water crisis is not defined by a mere lack of water within the country, but is determined more by the economic resources required to meet demand. Therefore, the economic conditions of countries have also been taken into consideration. Furthermore, we did extensive research on the water shortage in each of the countries, to establish their positions on the list.
Now let’s move on to the list of countries that will run out of water in 20 years.
