The United Nations warned of upcoming floods, hurricanes and droughts that many are unprepared to handle in a report published Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
"We need to wake up to the looming water crisis," warned Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization.
The report found that over the past 20 years, Earth's total supply of surface water, snow, ice, groundwater and water found in soil has decreased by 0.4 inches per year.
According to the report, global water management is "fragmented and inadequate."
The report also found that 25 percent of all cities across the globe are already experiencing water shortages. Additionally, 60 percent of the 101 countries surveyed needed improved forecasting systems, and the 107 countries would not meet goals to sustainably manage water access and supplies by 2030 with their current rates.
The report warned that as populations continue to grow, so does the number of people with inadequate access to water, increasing from 3.6 million in 2018 to more than 5 billion in 2050.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Among the actions recommended by the report were better warning systems for flood- and drought-prone areas that can identify, for example, when a river is expected to swell. Better financing and coordination among countries on water management is also needed, according to the report by the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization, development agencies and other groups.
The report found that since 2000, flood-related disasters globally rose 134 percent compared with the previous two decades. Most flood-related deaths and economic losses were in Asia, where extreme rainfall caused massive flooding in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal and Pakistan in the past year.
The frequency of drought-related disasters rose 29 percent over the same period. African countries recorded the most-drought related deaths. The steepest economic losses from drought were in North America, Asia and the Caribbean, the report said.
Population growth will further strain water supplies, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, said Elfatih Eltahir, a professor of hydrology and climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who wasn't involved in the report.
"The availability of water in rising populations shapes where water adaptation will be quite urgent," he said.
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