Food Tank Explains: Water Security
Introduction
This article is part of Food Tank’s primer series, “Food Tank Explains.” Each installment unpacks the ideas, innovations, and challenges shaping today’s food and agriculture systems, offering clear insights into complex topics. To explore more articles in the series, click here.
What is Water Security?
Water security refers to sustainable access to safe, affordable, and reliable water to support human well-being, livelihoods, economic development, and healthy ecosystems. It encompasses not only the availability of water but also water quality, accessibility, affordability, and reliability.
Global Water Situation
Despite water covering approximately 71% of Earth’s surface, only about 3% is freshwater, and less than 1% is readily accessible for human use.
- Agriculture accounts for approximately 70% of global freshwater withdrawals.
- Industry utilizes 15% of freshwater withdrawals.
- Domestic and municipal uses account for 13% of withdrawals.
The New Normal: Global Water Bankruptcy
In a January 2026 report, the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) warned that the term “water crisis” no longer adequately describes the state of global freshwater resources. The researchers conclude that the world has entered an era of “global water bankruptcy,” in which prolonged overuse has depleted and damaged freshwater systems beyond realistic prospects of full recovery.
“The term “water crisis” implies a temporary shock and deviation from the baseline,” Kaveh Madani, Director of the UNU-INWEH and author of the report, tells Food Tank. “But we are dealing with a new normal—a post-crisis state of failure.”