Nature Communications· 2021Q1
Future global urban water scarcity and potential solutions
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- Q1SCImago
- 2021year
Short summary
The global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to nearly double from 933 million in 2016 to 1.7-2.4 billion by 2050, with India disproportionately affected.
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Key points
- Urban water scarcity to affect 1.7-2.4 billion people by 2050, up from 933 million in 2016.
- India projected to experience the most severe growth in water-scarce urban population (153-422 million increase).
- Number of large cities facing scarcity to rise from 193 to 193-284, including 10-20 megacities.
- Infrastructure investment can solve scarcity for over two-thirds of affected cities.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Urbanization and climate change are together exacerbating water scarcity-where water demand exceeds availability-for the world's cities. We quantify global urban water scarcity in 2016 and 2050 under four socioeconomic and climate change scenarios, and explored potential solutions. Here we show the global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to increase from 933 million (one third of global urban population) in 2016 to 1.693-2.373 billion people (one third to nearly half of global urban population) in 2050, with India projected to be most severely affected in terms of growth in water-scarce urban population (increase of 153-422 million people). The number of large cities exposed to water scarcity is projected to increase from 193 to 193-284, including 10-20 megacities. More than two thirds of water-scarce cities can relieve water scarcity by infrastructure investment, but the potentially significant environmental trade-offs associated with large-scale water scarcity solutions must be guarded against.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Nature Communications, 2021 · DOI ↗
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Field: Ocean Engineering
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