Survival skills
A human being can survive an average of three to five days without the intake of water. The issues presented by the need for water dictate that unnecessary water loss by perspiration be avoided in survival situations. The need for water increases with exercise.
International Water Management Institute
Although it was becoming evident that water could no longer be considered an "infinite resource", as had been the case in the 1950s when there were fewer people on the planet, no one knew just how scarce the resource was. This prompted IWMI to try to find out. Its research culminated in publication of "Water for food, Water for life: A comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture". A map within the report showed that a third of the world’s population already suffered from ‘water scarcity’. The report defined physical water scarcity, as being where there are insufficient water resources to meet the demands of the population, and economic water scarcity as where water requirements are not satisfied because of a lack of investment in water or human capacity.
IWMI’s approach towards defining water scarcity provided a new context within which the scientific debate on water availability subsequently became centred. For example, the theme of the UN World Water Day in 2007 was Coping with Water Scarcity; The USA's Worldwatch Institute featured a chapter on water management in its assessment "State of the World 2008"; and reports published in 2009 by the World Economic Forum and UNESCO concluded that water scarcity is now a bigger threat than the global financial crisis. Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also highlighted water scarcity at the 2009 Nobel Conference.