The Falkenmark Water Stress Indicator states that a country experiences water stress when annual supplies drop below 1,700 cubic meters per person per year. When supplies fall below 1,000 cubic meters per person annually, the nation faces water scarcity.
Regions with desert climates often face this type of shortage. Central Asia and North Africa serve as examples of arid areas where physical scarcity prevails.
As of 2010, the world's aggregated groundwater abstraction reached 1,000 cubic kilometers per year. Millions of pumps extract groundwater throughout the world today.
Contamination of water leads to deadly diarrheal diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever which account for 80% of illnesses around the world. Subsidence has affected more than 17,000 square miles in 45 U.S. states according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
A major report in 2019 by over 200 researchers found that Himalayan glaciers could lose 66 percent of their ice by 2100. These glaciers are sources of Asia's biggest rivers including the Ganges and Indus.