By Julian Crib, Australian science writer and author of six books on the human existential emergency.
Unsafe water already kills millions, while scarcity, PFAS, endocrine disruptors, industrial waste and AI’s thirst are turning clean water into a global crisis.
Clean, safe water is a universal human right. Despite this, the state of the world’s domestic water supplies, rivers, lakes and groundwater is growing steadily more foul as the right we share is withdrawn by out-of-control industries and failing governments.
Warnings of a world water crisis have echoed through the corridors of power for more than a decade, to little effect. In 2026 they shifted from short-term crisis, usually regional, to an era of “water bankruptcy” affecting three quarters of the human species.
