News: The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) has released a Global Water Bankruptcy report.
About Global Water Bankruptcy Report – 2026
- Title of the report: “Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era”
- Published by: United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH)
- It has been published on the occasion of UNU-INWEH’s 30th anniversary and ahead of 2026 UN water conference.
- What it covers: The report highlights concern such as chronic groundwater depletion, water overallocation, land degradation, deforestation, pollution and climate change, which are pushing many regions to water bankruptcy and the need to take action.
- Findings of the Global Water Bankruptcy Report, 2026
- Increasing Scarcity of Water: Water is becoming scarce around the world leading to crop failures, power grids falter, diseases, migration, conflicts, and threats to peace and security.
- Slow Progress on SDG: The report highlights that the world is far from achieving SDG 6. It highlights that 2.2 billion people lack safely managed drinking water, 3.5 billion lack proper sanitation, and nearly 4 billion face severe water scarcity every year.
- Emergence of Global Water Bankruptcy: The report declares that the world has entered an era of “global water bankruptcy” due to structural imbalance between water demand and available resources.
- Water Insecurity and Resource Depletion: It shows that nearly 75 percent of the global population lives in countries classified as water-insecure or critically water-insecure.
- It also finds that 70 percent of major aquifers are declining, nearly 3 billion people live in areas with unstable water storage, and more than 170 million hectares of farmland face high water stress.
- Role of Climate Change: Climate change is disrupting rainfall, melting glaciers, and increasing floods and droughts, making water availability unpredictable.
- Chronic and Interconnected Water crisis: The report observes that droughts, shortages, and pollution are becoming long-term problems and water stress in one region will intensify pressures and conflicts elsewhere.
- Risk of “Day Zero” in Cities: The report warns that many cities across continents are approaching “Day Zero,” where regular water supply fails due to overburdened urban systems.
- Shift in water Management: The report calls for moving away from crisis management to bankruptcy management. There is need to deliberate combination of efforts for mitigation plus adaptation to new hydrological and environmental normals.
About Status of water scarcity in India
- India supports about 18 percent of the world’s population with only 4 percent of global freshwater, and its per capita surface water availability declined by 73 percent between 1951 and 2024.
- The NITI Aayog’s 2018 Composite Water Management Index warned that around 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress and by 2030, water demand may be twice the available supply.
- World Resources Institute ranked India 13th among the 17 most water-stressed countries and over 60 percent of irrigation and 85 percent of drinking water depend on rapidly depleting groundwater.
- According to 2024 Annual Groundwater Quality Report, nearly 70 percent of India’s water sources are contaminated which is posing serious risks to public health, agriculture, and livelihoods.
