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Water
Water is a critical element of national welfare and productivity
because of the role it plays in many forms of consumptive use, ranging from
drinking, to sanitation, recreation, irrigation, power production,
transportation, and many other uses. It is vulnerable to degradation of
both quantity and quality. The benchmark minimum water availability is
1,000 cubic meters of water per year per person; nations having less than
this amount are considered to have a water scarcity. Currently the
following countries fall below this benchmark:
Kuwait
Jordan
Israel
Rwanda
Somalia
Algeria
Kenya
Libya
Egypt
South Africa
Iran
Ethiopia
Increased uncertainty in future supply and demand for water raises the urgency of developing sound water management strategies even in regions now not experiencing water resource difficulties.