The current water investment craze was probably launched in 1995 by the frequently quoted words of Ismail Serageldin, then Vice President of the World Bank, “The wars of this century are fought over oil; the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water.”
Inauspicious forecasts soon followed by renowned institutions such as the CIA, UK Ministry of Defence and PricewaterhouseCoopers. If it were not for global warming, so-called water wars would now probably be the media threat number one.
Another problem is poor water management: “That is really a crisis.”
“One half of the world’s population – over four billion people – will suffer from water shortage in fifty years,” says a study by Aqua Terra Asset Management.