The surging growth in global population, climate change, widespread mismanagement and increasing demand for energy have tightened the grip on the world's evaporating water supplies, warned a new United Nations report released here on Wednesday.
As the world's population has swollen to well over 6 billion people, some countries have already reached the limits of their water resources, according to the report compiled by 24 UN agencies.
"Climate change is going to make this situation worse," said William Cosgrove, content coordinator for the UN World Water Development Report.
"Not just because it's going to increase climate variability but because generally it's going to increase the stresses (on water resources) in the places where they already exist," Cosgrove told a news conference at the UN Headquarters in New York.
The "Water in a Changing World" report, a comprehensive triennial assessment of freshwater resources, was launched ...