The world isn't just running low on water; it's overdrawn, says a new UN-backed report that warns the planet has entered an era of "water bankruptcy." Researchers at the United Nations University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health argue that humanity has been tapping rivers, lakes, and underground aquifers faster than nature can refill them, potentially pushing some regions beyond recovery, CBS News reports.
In what the authors describe as "post-crisis" conditions, decades of overuse, combined with pollution and climate shifts, have left many water systems failing. Major rivers now routinely dry up before they reach the sea, and many aquifers and river basins have been overspent for at least 50 years. Half of the world's large lakes have shrunk since the early 1990s, affecting about a quarter of the global population. Wetlands, which once acted as natural buffers against floods and drought, have lost more than 1 billion acres in the past half-century—an area almost the size of the European Union.
- The scale of human vulnerability is stark: roughly three-quarters of people live in countries labeled "water-insecure" or "critically water-insecure," the report says. About 4 billion experience severe water scarcity for at least one month a year, 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation, and 2.2 billion lack safely managed drinking water.
- Around 3 billion people live where total water storage is falling or unstable—and at least half of global food production comes from those same stressed regions. "Millions of farmers are trying to grow more food from shrinking, polluted, or disappearing water sources," said lead author Kaveh Madani, who warns that without "water-smart agriculture," the situation will worsen.
- Madani tells CNN that "water bankruptcy" is a more accurate term than water crisis. "If you keep calling this situation a crisis, you're implying that it's temporary. It's a shock. We can mitigate," he says. While some mitigation it still possible, "you also need to adapt to a new reality ... to new conditions that are more restrictive than before," he says.
- Madani says that instead of addressing the situation, people keep taking water for granted and "credit lines keep increasing." He points to cities like Los Angeles and Tehran, where development has been encouraged despite water limitations, and to the US Southwest, where Colorado River water-sharing agreements are based on conditions that no longer exist and will not be returning.
- The report calls for a three-pronged response: restore damaged water systems where possible, halt further depletion, and adapt economies and societies to existing water limits. UN Under-Secretary-General Tshilidzi Marwala frames the stakes in geopolitical terms, saying "water bankruptcy is becoming a driver of fragility, displacement, and conflict," and arguing that how the remaining water is shared—especially for vulnerable communities—will be crucial for maintaining social stability.
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