More than one-third of humanity is water-stressed every year or season, while drought crises are on the rise from California to Ethiopia as the planet warms, said Fred Boltz, who leads The Rockefeller Foundation's work on science and environment.
"We are really facing a global crisis," he said, noting that demand is predicted to outstrip supply by 40 percent by 2030.
More people are aware of the risks of pollution and the over-use of rivers and lakes, but many don't know about the depletion of underground water, which is finite, he said.
"Because we don't see it and we don't measure it accurately, we're not aware of the state of decline of groundwater resources," he said. "Water is almost an invisible asset."
The conservation expert said water is undervalued, wasted and being depleted too fast, having been traditionally regarded as a "free" human right.
"We need fundamental shifts in the way we manage water socially and economically," Boltz told the Thomson Reuters Foundation this week at a Stockholm conference on using the planet's resources sustainably.
One such shift would be to provide incentives for farmers, forest dwellers and others whose activities affect water downstream to manage it well and equitably, he said.
In water-stressed areas, crops can be irrigated more efficiently by delivering water precisely to plant roots through drip systems, cutting down on the amount required.
Global trade also masks water scarcity by failing to recognize the hidden value of "virtual water" in retail prices, he said, such as selling imported strawberries for similar prices to homegrown produce, he said.
Read more at INTERVIEW - Thirsty World Must Wake Up to Looming Water Crisis, Expert Says
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