Water and Technology

Human development has been deeply tied to innovations in water management: extraction, storage, distribution, wastewater treatment, advanced irrigation, desalination, aquaculture, and hydropower.

Population growth has required major investments in water sanitation. Industrial expansion has increased demand for water in agriculture, livestock, tourism, and domestic use—while also making water quality more vulnerable.

Global access to water remains deeply unequal. For example, in the United States, consumption reaches 575 liters per person per day, while many countries struggle with only a few dozen liters—sometimes below survival thresholds.

Today, more than four billion people live under “water stress.”
To this already critical shortage, another threat is added: shifting rainfall patterns and expanding desert regions due to climate change, making access to freshwater even more difficult and compromising a fundamental human right.

— M. Douas, P. A. Serena, M. I. Marqués