As the world’s population grows, water shortages have become a global challenge. With most developed and developing countries consuming resources much faster than they can regenerate them, it will not be long when the supply of fresh water will cause shortages of a magnitude that can leave large populations thirsty and hungry.

Shortages of water are nothing new. Arid and semiarid regions have always been short of water and much of the rest of the world suffers periodically when expected rainfall is either inadequate or irregular. What is new is the extent of the problem. Already one-third of the world’s population suffers from inadequate access to clean fresh water. Within a decade, the proportion is expected to double to two-thirds. Most of the world’s water is already inaccessible or comes in the form of storms and hurricanes. There is certainly room for better management of water, especially in agriculture which currently takes up 70 percent of the water we use.

The world’s water problems have been documented in report after report, with a recent study from the International Food Policy Research Institute emphasizing the difficulty of providing water to grow food that will eventually be a greater problem than drinking water. The traditional approach to solve water problems is tapping new sources of supply but in many areas, there are few new sources to tap. If we do not learn to care and live within the water available in our communities, safe and inadequate water supply will become more difficult to obtain.

Water is life. It is an essential component of human existence. We must learn not only the methods and habits of sharing equitably, but also the technologies and values of securing the environment that makes fresh water available to us.