Recent droughts and the increase in food prices they trigger underscore that freshwater scarcity is bound to be a major challenge of the 21st century. Increased water demand due to population growth and rising living standards (with changing diets and lifestyles) strains available water resources. In spite of reports about an imminent water crisis, the world is not running out of water. Water is a renewable global resource of which there is more than enough. The major concern is that water is very unevenly distributed across and within countries. Water scarcity is thus primarily a local phenomenon, and fears mount that climate change might worsen an already bad situation in water-scarce areas.
