Briefing: The future of water: a looming crisis, attention required

In the last 60 plus years, there has been an unprecedented growth in the world population, from 3 billion to over 8 billion today. This is forecast to increase further, albeit at a slower rate, to approximately 12 billion, before declining over the last two decades of the century. It was not seriously noted that this expansion might be having an effect on the environment and climate until the new century. There were, largely unwitting, changes taking place also in the water sector, but these have gained more and more prominence in the past few years, particularly by those who appreciate the environment and the damage that was being done to the water sector and by the sector because the demands on it were increasing and the maintenance and new investment it required was being ignored. This paper looks first at the global situation and the ominous continuing drawdown of underground water before discussing the unacceptable situation in England, which has recently been highlighted and will likely be continued in the months ahead.