Perhaps you're vaguely aware that the world is wracked by drinking water shortages. But as much as we hear that news these days, the problem always seems fairly abstract. Here's aninfographic that tries to solve that dilemma, by showing exactly why water supplies are falling in the world's biggest cities.
The piece was designed by Florian Kräutli, for Visualizing.org'sWorld Water Day Challenge, a $5,000 prize offered by GE for the best visualization of the world's water woes.
Kräutli's infographic has two basic components. One is a bubble chart that shows water price increases in cities across the world. Once you click the individual cities, you get a newsfeed filled with relevant news reports, and you also see the exact price of water, how it's risen in the last five years, and how that compares to population growth:
As you can see, the stats are almost hard to believe. For example, Chicago has seen a 54% rise in water costs, compared to a 2% rise in population. And Chicago is hardly unusual. Washington, D.C. has seen a 44% rise; New York, 46%. And all while population has remained basically flat. (In Honduras, one town has seen water use grow by 1,617%.) Those rising costs reflect both diminishing water supplies and an aging infrastructure stretched by overuse.
Given those shocking facts, what's probably most surprising is how little attention our water woes receive. But switch up the chart a little, and you see why: Even though water costs are spiraling, water remains supremely cheap in the U.S. Here's how much various cities pay in water, relative to GDP:
COMMENTARY: What the above maps do not show is how safe is the world's drinking water supply. We are so lucky to live in America, where we have an abundance of safe drinking water. However, many parts of the world do not have safe drinking water.
As you can readily see from the following World Water Pollution Map, pollution continues to be a problem, especially in industrialized nations, where a lot of pollutants are finding their way into our river's and oceans.
Courtesy of an article dated March 14, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
Thank you for this informative, fascinating article. Now days, many people take the fact that we have fresh water for granted. but we must increase the awareness' keep people alert - there is a true danger in water pollution.
Posted by: what is water pollution | 04/09/2011 at 05:59 AM
Kevin, A lot of Americans take fresh drinking water for granted. So much is wasted on foolishness. Many countries would be happy to take that water.
Posted by: Tommy | 03/19/2011 at 08:56 AM
It is important to save water. Do not waste water. In the world there are so many countries who have not enough water for drink. 60% of human body weight is water.
Posted by: omaha homes | 03/18/2011 at 07:46 AM