"The city of Basra is intentionally neglected by the central government, it has four million inhabitants but only has four hospitals. We should have more than 50 hospitals," Mr Al Tai said, referencing international health standards.

Less than 1 percent of the world’s water supply is readily available for human use (the rest is salty, frozen at the poles, or trapped underground). Yet we use it in wildly inefficient ways: We lose it to leaky pipes. We dump waste in it. We try to grow some of our most water-intensive crops in the desert. Really.

Instead of speaking about herself, Miss Michigan said she was "from the state with 84% of the US fresh water but none for its residents to drink".

“Having evaporated from lakes and rivers and oceans and returned as snow and rain, the water we consume has been through innumerable uses. Dinosaurs drank it. The Caesars did, too.”

“The orders against sowing rice, corn, and other crops this summer came as a shock to the towns and villages in the once-fertile plains south of Baghdad, where the local economy depends on farming. Nationwide, one in five Iraqis works in agriculture.”

"The new material, f-sand, uses proteins from the Moringa Oleifera plant commonly known as the drumstick tree to efficaciously purify water. The plant which is indigenous to India, grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates and is cultivated for food and natural oils. The seeds of the plant are also used for one type of basic water purification. Materials present in the seeds can kill microorganisms and reduce water turbidity."

"The global community needs to get a grip on climate changes exacerbating the supply side dimension of the water crisis. Freshwater resources are particularly vulnerable to climate events. Rising temperatures and shifts in precipitation patterns increase the frequency of floods and droughts, making effective water management far more challenging."

"The water crisis...served as a wake up call for India, where sprawling metropolises such as New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai routinely face critical water shortages as ground water levels deplete and lakes and rivers dry up...'Beg, borrow, steal: you do all sorts of things. You learn to have a bath in a basin and then throw that water in the flush,' says Nilu Parmar." Learn more here.

“The local government reportedly has a number of expensive schemes in the works to fix the problem. It’s also tried to encourage rainwater harvesting, though not very successfully. Meanwhile, every successive year takes the city closer to disaster. By 2039, Shimla’s water demand is expected to hit 71 MLD, far exceeding its already limited supply.”

“The number of people without reliable access to clean water is expected to rise further before it eventually falls. Meanwhile, 2.4 billion people lack access to toilets or other basic sanitation. No wonder then that 1.8 billion rely on water sources that are contaminated with fecal matter, according to the multilateral agency.”