While it is true that the poorest residents of the city are not connected to the piped water network, neither are the richest. Then what causes water inequalities?
The Hawkesbury’s waters look beautifully natural but treated sewage makes up to 20% of the river flow where the North Richmond Filtration Plant draws its water.
Karl Baron/flickr
Perth is looking at recycling all its sewage in the city’s future water supply. But many Australians’ drinking water already contains indirectly recycled treated sewage.
A fisherman at work in the White Nile. Half the river’s flow is lost to evaporation from the Sudd swamps, a large wetland.
Arne Hoel/World Bank/Flickr
In many Mexican cities, water is treated as a political bargaining chip – a favor that public officials can trade for votes, bribes or power.
Farmer-led development projects in places like Tanzania, shown here, can increase access to food and water, and reconnect people to nature.
(Cecilia Schubert/flickr)
We think of Canada as a water-rich country, but we are not immune to water shortages or disasters. With some advance planning, Canada can avoid a water catastrophe.
The future of Perth’s urban wetlands is in doubt.
Orderinchaos/Wikimedia Commons
Perth, unlike Cape Town, faces no prospect of its tapwater running out. But other problems lurk beneath the surface, as the city’s drying climate puts increasing pressure on irrigation and wetlands.
Water researchers (like Dr Mary Lundeba and Esther Lee, pictured here at work in Zambia) need more support.
WorldFish/Flickr
Cities all over the world are facing growing challenges to provide clean, reliable water. And many of the fixes, such as desalination plants, have a huge carbon footprint.
The River Nile flows through 11 African countries.
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Professor of Civil, Environmental & Ecological Engineering, Director of the Healthy Plumbing Consortium and Center for Plumbing Safety, Purdue University
Professor in Practice on Environmental Innovation, School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow, UK, National University of Singapore
Associate Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy, School of Environment, Science and Engineering, and Fellow of the Marine Ecology Research Centre, Southern Cross University