The Global Crisis of Water Depletion and Contamination, Part 7 of a Multi-part Series

The UN agency also reports that the record-breaking drought is significantly impacting indigenous and other communities in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, who depend on boat connections. In Brazil’s Amazon region alone, more than 1,700 schools and over 760 medical clinics had to close or became inaccessible due to low river levels. In Colombia’s Amazon, the scarcity of drinking water and food forced 130 schools to suspend classes, and in Peru, more than 50 clinics became unreachable.

Afghanistan is recognized by the United Nations (UN) as one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The UN’s children’s agency, UNICEF, has warned that Kabul’s underground water resources could be gone by 2030. These satellites have revealed a significant drop in freshwater on Earth over the last decade. Liquid surface water, such as lakes and rivers, along with water in underground aquifers, has significantly decreased compared to the average levels from 2002 through 2014 and has not recovered. Five countries - Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – have declared national disasters due to the drought and the ensuing hunger.

The drought in Africa has also significantly impacted Zambia, leaving the Kariba Dam – the largest man-made lake by volume - without enough water to power its hydroelectric turbines, resulting in widespread power outages. In October 2024, residents of Swartruggens and Borolelo, who depended on this water source, found themselves without running water. In northern Kenya, women and children are forced to travel increasingly greater distances each day to collect unclean water from the subsoil, which poses a high risk of infections and diseases.