Water shortage and degraded water quality affects the five continents: Pakistan, Australia, Spain or the Caribbean Republic of Trinidad and Tobago are especially concerned by this issue.

India’s Union Minister for Water Resources, Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal, has commented on the latest World Bank report on the state of groundwater resources in India. He stressed that groundwater management is extremely complex given the considerable discrepancies between the availability and use of the resource. He also recognised that indiscriminate exploitation of the country’s groundwater resources has “led to decline of groundwater. This threatens the long-term sustainability of this precious resource”.

As part of its cooperation with Morocco, the World Bank has published a results profile on the country’s management of water and sanitation. In 2007, through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the World Bank granted the country an 18-year development policy loan of $ 100 million. The loan was principally intended to finance a national programme of comprehensive water sector reform, aiming for more efficient and sustainable management of the resource and its related services. Beyond this immediate goal, the seventh Millennium Development Goal, which aims to “halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water”, is therefore also directly at stake.

More than 53 billion tons of polluted water are released back into the natural environment each year in China without being treated. Because of the economic and health risks that that causes, the Chinese government has decided to allocate 1.35% of its GNP to the environment.

At the end of 2009, the 2030 Water Resources Group (McKinsey & Company, financial institutions, agricultural and industrial enterprises, experts, etc.) issued a report on the economic and social risks induced by possible water shortages on the 2030 timescale, and a number of recommendations to prevent them.

On October 23, 2009, the World Bank published a new study on the water treatment and distribution activities of major private operators (such as SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, Veolia, Saur and Agbar) in emerging countries. The study concludes that “well-managed public utilities can be found within the developing world”, but that “the private sector has much to offer”.

According to the preliminary conclusions of a global World Bank study entitled “Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change” (EACC), adapting to climate change will cost developing countries between USD 75 to 100 billion per year between 2010 and 2050 if global temperatures rise 2°C by the latter date.

As part of its Infrastructure Recovery and Assets Platform (INFRA), on 23 April the World Bank decided to grant 45 billion dollars to developing countries to support investment in infrastructures. Some of the funds loaned will serve to develop the water sector, from resource management to distribution and wastewater services.