A landmark UN report has declared the world has entered an “era of global water bankruptcy,” a post-crisis reality where critical water systems have suffered irreversible damage and can no longer meet humanity’s growing demands
In an assessment released on 20 January 2026, United Nations scientists have formally declared that the world has entered an “era of global water bankruptcy.” The report, issued by the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), warns that traditional terms like “water stress” or “crisis” no longer accurately describe a reality where many of the planet’s vital water systems have suffered irreversible damage.
The flagship report, titled Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era, argues that humanity has moved past temporary shortages into a state of structural insolvency. By overdrawing renewable water “income” from rivers and rain while depleting “savings” in aquifers and glaciers, many regions have crossed thresholds from which they cannot realistically recover.
Defining a new hydrological reality
The report introduces a formal scientific definition of water bankruptcy, distinguishing it from previous terminology. While water stress refers to reversible pressure and a water crisis describes acute but surmountable shocks, water bankruptcy is defined as a persistent state of failure. In this state, long-term withdrawals exceed renewable inflows to the point that the loss of natural water capital is either permanent or prohibitively expensive to repair.
Lead author Kaveh Madani, Director of UNU-INWEH, explains that the global risk landscape has fundamentally altered because these bankrupt systems are interconnected. Through international trade, migration, and climate feedbacks, a collapse in one basin’s hydrological viability creates ripples that affect global food security and political stability.
Key findings
The data presented in the report paints a picture of a planet living well beyond its means. Humans have altered the water cycle so significantly that the majority of current trends are now driven by human activity rather than natural variability.
- Vanishing surface water:
- Approximately 50% of the world’s large lakes have lost significant water volume since the early 1990s.
- Aquifer depletion:
- About 70% of major aquifers are in long-term decline, with 2 billion people currently living on ground that is physically sinking due to groundwater extraction.
- Ecosystem loss:
- Over the last 50 years, 410 million hectares of natural wetlands have been erased, an area roughly equivalent to the entire European Union.
- Agricultural strain:
- More than 170 million hectares of irrigated cropland are under high water stress, and 3 billion people live in areas where total water storage is unstable.
From crisis management to bankruptcy management
The UN is calling for a fundamental reset of the global water agenda. The report suggests that current policies focused on incremental efficiency gains or drinking water access are no longer sufficient for the “Anthropocene” era. Instead, governments must shift toward “bankruptcy management.”
This new approach prioritises protecting the remaining natural capital and rebalancing social expectations to match the degraded carrying capacity of the land. The report emphasises that water bankruptcy is also a justice issue, as the burdens of hydrological insolvency fall disproportionately on smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples, and low-income urban residents.
Water as a catalyst for cooperation
Despite the sobering data, the report offers a path forward by framing water as a unique bridge for international diplomacy. Because every nation and sector depends on freshwater, targeted investment in water systems can simultaneously address climate change, biodiversity loss, and desertification.
The findings will serve as a primary framework for the upcoming 2026 UN Water Conference. UN Under-Secretary-General Tshilidzi Marwala noted that managing this transition fairly is now central to maintaining global peace and social cohesion.
AI and the water crisis
Al Jazeera have reported that ChatGPT alone receives around 1 billion queries per day, this statistic does not include other high-profile AI models used by companies like Google, Meta and X.
A single ChatGPT response is thought to use at least one 500 ml bottle of water.
The UK Government Digital Sustainability Alliance’s (GDSA) report highlights that AI is predicted to lead to an increase in global water usage from 1.1bn to 6.6bn cubic metres by 2027. This is equivalent to more than half of the UK’s total water usage.
AI servers generate significant heat, requiring water-intensive cooling systems (like evaporative cooling towers) that consume vast amounts of freshwater. Many data centres are built in water-stressed areas, increasing competition for water with communities and agriculture, especially as climate change worsens droughts.
