Which countries have the most serious fresh water shortages?
Several countries and regions are already facing critical shortages of water. Most of these countries are in the Near East and North Africa, or in sub-Saharan Africa. Water tables are also falling in northern China, northwest India, parts of Pakistan, the United States, and the Middle East . For example: • In the important agricultural areas of Northern China there are severe and increasing water shortages. Water extraction has led to falling groundwater tables in the North China Plain. And, so much water is being taken from the Yellow River in northern China that the lower part of the river now dries up several months of the year before it reaches the sea; • In the United States, too, groundwater is being used at a rate 25 per cent greater than it is being replenished. The huge Ogallala aquifer that lies under 6 states is heavily mined for irrigation in the southwest and has lost more than half its water in some regions.
