With a Push From the U.N., Water Reveals Its Secrets - New York Times

Isotope hydrology...read on...
With a Push From the U.N., Water Reveals Its Secrets - New York Times: "Today, more than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Polluted water contributes, each year, to the death of about 15 million children under age 5. By midcentury, between two billion and seven billion people will face water shortages.

'No region will be spared from the impact of this crisis,' Koichiro Matsuura, director general of Unesco, recently warned. 'Water supplies are falling while the demand is dramatically growing.'

He estimated that in the next two decades the average amount of water available per person on the planet will shrink by a third.

But the United Nations is also working hard on solutions, helping poor countries learn a subtle art that lets them better manage their water resources to avoid tragedy."