U.N. concerned about water management

Although the California drought has had a significant impact on the United States, the United Nations (UN) says it could have a more devastating impact on other areas of the world, particularly in areas that are less affluent.

According to the U.N., floods, droughts and cyclones have caused more than $1 trillion in damage since 1990.

“Issues of water and disaster resilience are so intimately related that it is impossible to think of one without the other. Yet too often we do, by thinking in silos and responding in fragmented ways. It is time to close these conceptual and operational gaps,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

In the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board’s 10-year report, water was considered badly managed, despite the number of people across the world who live in water-scarce areas.

“We have not paid enough attention to the ground rules of sharing water – across sectors, and across regional or national boundaries,” the report said. “Lack of adequate access to drinking water and sanitation plagues billions of people, especially the poorest.”

The report calls on the U.N. and nations to take drastic action to address water management. It is also suggested that the U.N. creates a committee that is dedicated to the issue of water sustainability across the globe.