1. Water is essential for life. It is a key element in ensuring the integrity of ecosystems and the goods and services they provide as well as in growing food, generating energy and producing all kinds of products and services. The growth of population, together with increasing competition for freshwater among agriculture, urban and industrial uses, results in unprecedented pressures on water resources , with many countries reaching conditions of water scarcity and facing limits to economic development. Moreover, water quality continues to decline, further limiting the availability of freshwater resources , and there is change in the global hydrological cycle due to human pressures. 2. The integral role of water in development is widely recognized, and water issues are very high in the national and international development agendas, with several international agreements specifying targets for water supply and sanitation. At the global level, the most notable are the targets...
