Fact: World population is estimated to grow to between 9.5 and 11 billion people by the middle of this century.
Fact: Many experts view fresh water supplies as the pivotal resource of the 21st century. Every day fresh water supplies are stretched further to meet the growing demands of industry, agriculture and an ever-expanding population. There is no doubt that access to healthful drinking water will become a major challenge in many parts of the world. Because of the large number of possible hazards in drinking water, the development of reliable testing and consistent water standards in many parts of the world is simply unaffordable. Even in the US many areas have suffered from wide spread contamination of municipal drinking water supplies.
Fact: Annual sales of bottled drinking water in the USA have grown by 8% to 10% in each of the last 20 years, about twice as fast as the rate of growth of other beverages. The latest figures available (2004) show year over year growth at more than 20%.
Fact: The US Geological Survey recently reported (March 2006) that practically every river and stream in the USA is contaminated with pesticides.
Fact: According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) America faces a shortfall of $11 billion annually to replace aging facilities and comply with safe drinking water regulations. Federal funding for drinking water in 2005 remained level at $850 million, less than 10% of the total national requirement.
Fact: Mexico has seen it per capita availability of water drop from 12,000 liters per person per day in 1960 to less that 4,000 liters per person per day in 2006. Meanwhile Mexico's population is estimated to grow by an additional 40 million people over the next 4 decades.
Fact: Nearly 1 billion people worldwide have little or no access to safe drinking water. Many are concentrated in densely populated urban areas of Asia, Africa, Central and South America. Another 2.5 billion people on our planet have shrinking supplies of drinking water.