Global water 'bankruptcy' begins as billions face irreversible shortages

A new era has begun of “global water bankruptcy,” with humans depleting freshwater systems to the point they can’t recover, according to a new United Nations report.  

Three-quarters of the world’s population - about 6.1 billion people - now live in countries where freshwater supplies are insecure or critically insecure, according to the report, published Tuesday by UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health. Four billion people face severe water scarcity for at least one month a year.  

Cities are experiencing more Day Zero events in which municipal water systems near collapse. An acute water shortage in Tehran recently led Iran’s president to warn it may become necessary to evacuate parts of the city or even relocate the capital. In Turkey, roughly 700 sinkholes - some up to 100 feet deep - have appeared where aquifers have collapsed after their groundwater was drained. 

Global warming is increasing water demands and makes the natural supply of water less predictable. But water management is also a key part of the equation, said Kaveh Madani, director of the UN institute and the lead author of the report. “Water bankruptcy is not about how much water you have; it’s about how you manage your water,” he said.  

Climate change is shifting fresh water on a planetary scale and, on a smaller scale, those effects can be made worse by local actions. A hotter, drier planet experiences more water-evaporating droughts. That concentrates salts in the soil, as so do certain farming practices. Higher temperatures contribute to more forest and peatland fires, while human clear-cutting and draining of wetlands worsen fire conditions.  

“Droughts are no longer just natural but anthropogenic — meaning that we have climate change at the global level, and then also the land use changes from management decisions, infrastructure allocation decisions, make water less and less available,” Madani said. 

Use of the word “bankruptcy” to describe the extent of water depletion is new for the UN. Previously, UN University scientists used “water stress” or “water crisis” to describe systems that were under either prolonged, or sudden and acute, pressure. Both of those terms allow for the possibility of recovery. 

But that isn’t feasible in many areas where humans have overdrawn the local supply of fresh water, squandering the annual influx from recharging sources like rivers and melting snow while exhausting groundwater and other natural reservoirs.  

The report calls for the recognition of water bankruptcy in policy debates, and for the creation of a global monitoring framework to track water resources. Governments should consider blocking projects that further degrade water supplies, it says.  

The UN report’s release comes ahead of meetings in Dakar, Senegal, later this month to lay groundwork for the 2026 UN Water Conference in December. On Jan. 7 the US said it would withdraw from UN Water and UN Universities, along with dozens of other international organizations that the Trump administration said are “contrary to the interests” of the country. The US decision has not impacted operations so far, said Madani.