As Americans gather around their Thanksgiving tables for an abundance of food, it will be a sharp contrast to what some experts are calling a severe crisis — the scarcity of fresh water.
The scarcity, these analysts say, can no longer be avoided as the effects of a world water shortage will have life-threatening and global economic consequences.
"We're already in a water crisis here in the U.S.," said Mark LeChavallier, director of innovation and environmental stewardship for American Water, a water and wastewater utility company.
"It's big in areas on the West Coast and only getting bigger in areas like the East Coast. It's almost taken for granted that we will have water, but we can't do that anymore," he said.
It's not just the U.S. that's facing a severe water shortage. India, China, Russia and parts of Africa and elsewhere in Asia are just a few of the regions facing increasing water scarcity, according to a report by Deloitte.
A major reason for the water shortage is drought. Some 56 percent of the United States is experiencing drought conditions — the most extensive area of drought in the U.S. in 12 years of tracking. Other areas of the world, like the Korean peninsula, have endured the worst drought conditions in more than a century.
Adding to the water scarcity is an ever increasing world population — along with increased urbanization — and economic growth, all of which demand and consume larger and larger amounts of water. The United Nations has said that two thirds of the world will live in water-stressed countries by 2025.
The problem going forward is how to get more from less, say analysts.