6 - Freshwater

Summary

Rising freshwater scarcity is a present-day danger that is likely to worsen as supplies become increasingly scarce. Chapter 6 takes the view that the current overuse of freshwater supplies worldwide is as much a failure of water management as it is a result of scarcity. Outdated governance structures and institutions, combined with continual underpricing, have perpetuated the overuse and undervaluation of water, requiring reforms to markets and policies to ensure that they adequately capture the rising economic costs of exploiting water resources to foster more conservation, control of pollution and ecosystem protection. The result will be more efficient allocation of water among its competing agricultural, industrial and urban uses; fostering of water-saving innovations; and further mitigation of water scarcity and its costs.