UN DECLARES GLOBAL WATER BANKRUPTCY

UN DECLARES GLOBAL WATER
BANKRUPTCY
1 | P a g e

CHAPTERS
1. UN DECLARES GLOBAL WATER
BANKRUPTCY: WHAT IT MEANS
2. WATER WILL BE THE DEFINING BUSINESS
ISSUE OF THE DECADE
3. THE GLOBAL WATER CRISIS, DESCRIBED AS
AN "ERA OF WATER BANKRUPTCY"
4. WORSENING CRISIS THREATENS
LIVELIHOODS: 'WE REALLY HAVE TO PUT AN
END TO THIS'
5. TWO-THIRDS OF THE US FACING DROUGHT
THIS WINTER
6. THE WORLD HAS ENTERED A NEW ERA OF
'WATER BANKRUPTCY' WITH IRREVERSIBLE
CONSEQUENCES
7. THE GREAT AMERICAN DROUGHT: WHY
OUR WATER CRISIS IS JUST BEGINNING
2 | P a g e

8. THE YEAR WATER MAY RUN OUT FOR GOOD
9. THE DARK TRUTH ABOUT IRAN'S WATER:
WHY THE NATION'S AQUIFERS ARE
COLLAPSING
10. 70% OF WORLD’S AQUIFERS FACE COLLAPSE
AS UN DECLARES ‘WATER BANKRUPTCY’—
AMERICANS BRACE FOR CRISIS
11. TEHRAN MAY FACE EVACUATION DUE TO
DROUGHT
12. WHY IRAN’S COLLAPSE MIGHT START WITH
A DRIED-UP RIVER
13. WE'RE LOSING THE LAND – HOW 74% OF
SPAIN FACES DESERTIFICATION
14. A DRYING CLIMATE IS MAKING EAST AFRICA
PULL APART FASTER
15. CONSERVATION ALONE MAY NOT SAVE OUR
WATER SUPPLIES, NEW STUDY WARNS
16. WHERE DROUGHT IS SO BAD, PEOPLE CAN’T
LIVE THERE
3 | P a g e

17. CYPRUS WATER EMERGENCY: CITIZENS
URGED TO REDUCE WATER USE AS DAMS
REACH RECORD LOW
18. WORLD NOT READY FOR RISE IN EXTREME
HEAT, SCIENTISTS SAY
19. REVELATION 16:8-10 FOURTH BOWL: MEN
ARE SCORCHED
20. SAUDI ARABIA’S PLAN TO TURN ONE OF THE
WORLD’S HARSHEST DESERTS INTO A
GREEN LANDSCAPE
21. KING SALMAN CALLS FOR RAIN-SEEKING
PRAYER
22. DROUGHT AND RECORD-BREAKING HEAT:
BEGINNING OF SORROWS, SUMMER 2025
23. FAITH AND SALVATION FOR LOST
24. THE KING IS COMING
4 | P a g e

UN DECLARES GLOBAL WATER
BANKRUPTCY: WHAT IT MEANS
Cover of the Global Water Bankruptcy Report (UNU) (L); and a sinkhole,
caused by unsustainable groundwater extraction, is a classis symptom of
water b...Read More | UNU-INWEH and Pyae Phyo Aung / UNU-INWEH
Global Water Bankruptcy Report,
5 | P a g e

The United Nations has said that terms like "water crisis" no longer
reflect the state of the world's water capitol, and that things are now far
worse, leaving us in a "post-crisis era" of "global water bankruptcy."
The UN is calling on world leaders to acknowledge the situation, which
they attribute to factors including irreversible losses of natural water,
deforestation, pollution and global warming.
World leaders are now encouraged to create science-backed solutions to
tackle this new reality, instead of responding to the status of the crisis
several years ago.
Standing out in the report are several statistics that underline the UN's
push for a new approach towards the Earth's dissipating supply of quality
water.
6 | P a g e
https://youtu.be/Cx6Nqh_PV7E
These include the fact that 50 percent of world's largest lakes have lost
water since the early 1990s; how 50 percent of global domestic water is
now derived from groundwater; that 410 million hectares of natural
wetlands were erased in the past five decades; and how 75 percent of
the world's people live in countries classified as water-insecure or
critically water-insecure.
An alarming 2 billion people are also living on sinking ground, while 3.5
billion lack safely managed clean water.
AccuWeather, the weather forecasting firm, recently conducted a
climate study that found that annual rainfall in the contiguous U.S. has
been declining. However, the analysis showed that extreme rainfall
events have been increasing, contributing to the growing body of
evidence for a post-crisis era highlighted in the U.N. report.

“If these trends continue, the well-known climate models may not be
capturing all of the important changes our studies have revealed,” Dr. Joel
Myers, founder and executive chair of AccuWeather, told Newsweek, in
line with the tone of the U.N. report.
Reflecting on AccuWeather's study, he added: “If these trends continue,
we expect to see accelerating harmful impacts on crop production, more
frequent wildfires, and less available water due to greater drought.
Furthermore, the crop-growing areas in the U.S. may shrink as soil
becomes more arid...These effects could become more obvious over the
next decade or two."
The study also addressed the ground becoming drier, a result of global
warming, and how the warming of the air and ground could, echoing the
U.N.'s warning, accelerate beyond what climate models are currently
predicting.
AccuWeather's researchers said one way this could show up is in
expanded desert areas and flash flooding, because more intense rainfall
cannot be absorbed into the soil like slower, more spread out rain.
Actions the UN Wants
The UN's new report intends to get world leaders to drop their current
focus on drinking water and accept the new post-crisis state, making
actions accordingly like elevating water issues in climate negotiations and
embedding water-bankruptcy monitoring in global frameworks.
“The report clearly highlights the severe state of water insecurity in many
parts of the world," Wouter Buytaert, professor of hydrology and water
resources at Imperial College London in England, said in a statement.
7 | P a g e

“The report is right in pointing out that many water systems are
irreversibly degraded.
"In this, the water cycle is no different from other natural resources such
as soils and ecosystems, all of which experience widespread
transgression of their planetary boundaries. I agree with the report that
we need a long-term view on sustainable and equitable progress towards
water security, instead of short-term crisis management."
He went on to suggest that a global water bankruptcy narrative could jolt
policy makers into action but warned that it could also risk triggering
global inaction and resignation by paralyzing them with fear. He advises
highlighting successful, contemporary efforts to address water concerns
and global warming as a whole.
"It does not do justice to [the] magnitude and significance of ongoing
efforts," he said. "Documenting, championing, and replicating success
stories like these can create a more engaging and solution-oriented
narrative."
Madani, K. (2026). Global water bankruptcy: Living beyond our
hydrological means in the post-crisis era. United Nations University
Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
https://doi.org/10.53328/INR26KAM001
8 | P a g e

WATER WILL BE THE DEFINING BUSINESS
ISSUE OF THE DECADE
Water shapes how people spend their time, the choices available to
them, and their ability to participate in community and economic life. For
the estimated 2.1 billion people who lack access to safe water and
the 3.4 billion who lack access to safe sanitation, water dictates
everything.
9 | P a g e

People living in poverty are affected first and worst by water—they lose
time to collecting water, face preventable illnesses, and have fewer
opportunities to work or learn. These conditions directly affect workforce
stability, supply chain reliability, and the strength of the markets in
regions where companies operate.
For businesses, water increasingly influences where growth is possible
and how confidently the future can be planned. Across sectors—from
agriculture and manufacturing to cloud computing and data centers—
access to water underpins these systems that companies rely on to
operate at scale. Yet water is not consistently factored into decisions
about where businesses invest, hire, and expand.
The businesses that will thrive in the coming decade are those that
integrate water into their strategy now.
Companies must address these issues in the communities where they
operate. And firms must continually work to reduce the amount of water
they use across all their operations—especially in data centers. Investing
in replenishment projects is another way businesses can return water to
the communities they impact and ensure longterm sustainability.
To be sure, individual company action plays an important role, but
progress that meets the scale of the water crisis requires partnership—
and depends on whether solutions reach the people facing the greatest
barriers to safe water. Nonprofit organizations can help make affordable
financing accessible to families in need of these essential resources.
When households have access to safe water at home, the impact is
immediate. When people do not need to spend time finding, collecting,
or queuing for water, they regain control of their lives. At scale, those
time savings create meaningful opportunities for people in need—
10 | P a g e

making space for learning, caregiving, jobs, and choices that support
family and community life.
WHAT STANDS BETWEEN PEOPLE AND SAFE WATER
11 | P a g e
https://youtu.be/YAtk0Vt8ivU
Solutions for safe water and sanitation already exist, and they are
working. What’s missing is sustained funding at the scale required to
reach everyone with access to these essential resources. Universal access
to safely managed water and sanitation will require an estimated $114
billion annually, yet current investment falls short by roughly $85 billion
each year. As a result, funding often stops short of the household level,
leaving people living in poverty without affordable ways to pay for water
and sanitation at home.
The implications extend far beyond water systems themselves. The
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that inadequate access to
safe water and sanitation contributes to roughly $260 billion in annual
economic losses, driven by preventable illness, and missed days of work
and school. At the same time, the return on investment is
clear: research suggests that every $1 invested in water and sanitation
yields about $4 in economic benefits, strengthening public health and
long-term growth.
Unlike many essential services that underpin economic development,
water is financed through a mix of public budgets, development finance,
philanthropy, and local utilities. Each operates under different incentives,
constraints, and time horizons. This complexity shapes what gets built—
and too often determines whether systems are maintained, modernized,
or strengthened over time.

Those pressures are intensifying. Rising demand for water and growing
environmental stress are exposing the limits of aging infrastructure.
Globally, leaking water distribution systems lose an estimated 33 trillion
gallons of treated water each year—driving up operating costs and the
energy required to deliver water to the communities and markets that
depend on it.
Water leadership
In many regions, access to safe water shapes the health of local
workforces, supply chain resilience, and market strength. When water
access is uncertain, the consequences appear first in people’s lives—
through lost time, preventable illness, and limited opportunity. Over
time, it surfaces within the businesses that depend on those
communities for labor, supply, and growth.
Solving the global water crisis demands coordination across sectors,
capital, and public engagement. In this context, leadership means
businesses using their resources, partnerships, and influence to make
access to safe water a shared responsibility—one that supports the
people and communities they rely on. Access to water and sanitation
improves when families can afford household connections, providers can
deliver service, and funding is sustained over time.
We can respond to that need by expanding pathways for companies and
consumers to participate. In the decade ahead, modern water
leadership will be public, collaborative, and results-oriented. And it must
build on efforts to increase access to water and sanitation, and on the
understanding that progress depends on sustained action rather than
stated intention.
12 | P a g e

Water sits at the center of opportunity in the global economy. The
decisions companies make now will determine whether water becomes
a barrier to growth or the foundation of resilience. The question is no
longer whether water belongs in the boardroom. It is whether businesses
will act while they still have the power to shape what comes next. The
leaders who engage now will help create a future in which communities
and markets are better positioned to thrive—together—and provide the
kind of sustained progress needed to end the water crisis within our
lifetimes.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/most-water-stressed-nationsranked/vi-AA1JWWbF
13 | P a g e

THE GLOBAL WATER CRISIS, DESCRIBED
AS AN "ERA OF WATER BANKRUPTCY"
The global water crisis, described as an "era of water
bankruptcy," currently affects roughly 4 billion people, with over 2 billion
lacking safe drinking water. Driven by climate change, mismanagement,
and pollution, demand is expected to outstrip supply by 40% by 2030,
with Asia and Africa being the most affected, threatening food security
and causing over 1,000 daily child deaths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAtk0Vt8ivU&t
14 | P a g e

WORSENING CRISIS THREATENS
LIVELIHOODS: 'WE REALLY HAVE TO PUT
AN END TO THIS'
The Great Hungarian Plain — a 20,000-square-mile region in Hungary —
has been suffering accelerated desertification.
As climate irresponsibility and unsustainable global practices dry out the
ecosystem of the Great Hungarian Plain, local farmers have been forced
to take unexpected measures to protect their homes and their
livelihoods.
15 | P a g e

WHAT'S HAPPENING?
Also known as the Homokhátság, the Great Hungarian Plain — a 20,000-
square-mile region spanning the south of Hungary — has been suffering
accelerated desertification in recent years, owing to poor water
management and the broader impacts of a shifting climate. "It's getting
worse year after year," local farmer and landowner Oszkár
Nagyapáti told the Associated Press.
Historically, the area would experience periodic flooding from the nearby
Danube and Tisza Rivers, but today's Plain-dwellers have reported that
the land is dry and cracked, with the region riddled by frequent drought.
Farmers who rely financially on the Plain's crop production have taken a
major hit — as has Hungary's agricultural economic sector — now that
the land has become virtually unlivable for many plants and animals.
WHY IS DESERTIFICATION ALARMING?
Hungary is far from the only region in the world to
experience desertification. In late 2024, the United
Nations reported that three-quarters of Earth's land has grown drier in
some capacity over the past 30 years — in many cases, irreversibly so.
What we're seeing in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas is the
outcome of deeply ingrained poor environmental hygiene. Most of us
contribute to the world's total carbon pollution without even thinking
about it, from the vehicles we drive to the electricity we consume, and
even the food we purchase.
Carbon pollution traps heat within the atmosphere and drives up
temperatures. This leads to increasing evaporation and lowering
16 | P a g e

humidity, which supercharges dangerous natural disasters like droughts
and wildfires. These extreme weather events speed up the degradation
and desertification of much of the planet. "There was a point when I felt
that enough is enough," continued Nagyapáti. "We really have to put an
end to this."
WHAT'S BEING DONE ABOUT THE GREAT HUNGARIAN PLAIN?
After a 2017 study ascribed the critical state of the Great Hungarian Plain
to "climatic changes, improper land use and inappropriate environmental
management," a local volunteer team of "water guardians" — including
Nagyapáti himself — has taken decisive action, using thermal water to
help revive the land.
These volunteers have worked to redirect the surplus and wastewater of
a local thermal spa — which draws its thermal water from deep
underground — onto the barren plain, mimicking the former flooding
periods that the region experienced.
In addition, these water guardians hope that repeated exposure to scarce
water will cultivate a microclimate similar to the area's natural climate by
gradually putting humidity into the atmosphere. Higher humidity may
help keep temperatures lower and add moisture to overdried storm
fronts, promoting a healthier and more fertile ecosystem that resembles
what the Plain used to be.
Now that the water guardians have achieved some success in their
flooding attempts, the group has expanded its membership and drawn
the attention of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who established
a "drought task force" in 2025 to support the restoration.
17 | P a g e

TWO-THIRDS OF THE US FACING
DROUGHT THIS WINTER
More than two-thirds of the country is facing unusual dryness or fullblown
drought conditions, despite winter being known for heavier
precipitation, according to a Washington Post analysis of recent U.S.
Drought Monitor data.
The conditions touch every state except for the usually drought-prone
California, which has had a wet winter.
The dryness has scientists, local officials, and resource planners alarmed,
as the conditions can reduce local water supplies and drive up the risk
of wildfires.
States with the highest percentage of their area in
severe drought include Georgia, Maine, North Carolina, Florida, New
Mexico, and Virginia, the paper found.
In Utah, about 93 percent of the state is experiencing moderate to
extreme drought, and temperatures this winter have been nearly 10
degrees above the average.
“We had green grass and weeds growing in our city even into January,
leading me to be more worried about mowing instead of shoveling snow.
I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jon Meyer, Utah’s assistant state
climatologist, told the paper.
18 | P a g e

The conditions have set off alarm bells across the country, especially in
regions like the Mountain West, which is dependent on snowfall both for
winter tourism dollars and water supplies from snowmelt.
Colorado is in a snow drought, and the snowpack is the lowest on record
for this time of year, according to Colorado Public Radio, following a
December 2025 that was the warmest on record.
“It’s as grim as it gets right now,” Brad Udall, water and climate research
scientist at the Colorado Water Center at Colorado State
University, told the broadcaster.
Brad Riesenberg, who owns a backcountry snowmobiling business in
Park City, Utah, said the mild winter has been one of his worst years for
business in two decades.
“We’ve lost lots and lots of money and it’s been pretty tough,”
he told CNN. “This is up there with some of the worst [winters], if not the
worst.”
Researchers point to a variety of drivers including climate change,
persistent La Niña conditions, and the ongoing marine heat wave in the
northern Pacific Ocean.
The lack of water has been especially concerning in the Western U.S.,
where negotiations remain deadlocked over what to do about the
oversubscribed Colorado River.
As The Independent previously reported, a recently published 40-year
study warns that the climate crisis will increase the frequency, severity,
and reach of droughts.
19 | P a g e

“Each year since 1980, drought-stricken areas have spread by an
additional fifty thousand square kilometers on average — that’s roughly
the area of Slovakia, or the U.S. states of Vermont and New Hampshire
put together — causing enormous damage to ecosystems, agriculture,
and energy production,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria
Professor Francesca Pellicciotti said in a statement.
The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing
global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded.
We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded
individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive
change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as
important as it is today.
20 | P a g e

THE WORLD HAS ENTERED A NEW ERA
OF 'WATER BANKRUPTCY' WITH
IRREVERSIBLE CONSEQUENCES
A girl with canisters of water from a water truck, on September 17, 2025
in Kabul, Afghanistan. The city of six million people could run out water
by 2030, some experts say.
21 | P a g e

The world has entered “an era of global water bankruptcy”
with irreversible consequences, according to a new United Nations
report.
Regions across the world are afflicted by severe water problems: Kabul
may be on course to be the first modern city to run out of water. Mexico
City is sinking at a rate of around 20 inches a year as the vast aquifer
beneath its streets is over-pumped. In the US Southwest, states are
locked in a continual battle over the how to share the shrinking water of
the drought-stricken Colorado River.
The global situation is so severe that terms like “water crisis” or “water
stressed” fail to capture its magnitude, according to the report published
Tuesday by the United Nations University and based on a study in the
journal Water Resources.
“If you keep calling this situation a crisis, you’re implying that it’s
temporary. It’s a shock. We can mitigate it,” said Kaveh Madani, director
of the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health, and
the report’s author.
With bankruptcy, while it’s still vital to fix and mitigate where possible,
“you also need to adapt to a new reality… to new conditions that are
more restrictive than before,” he told CNN.
The concept of water bankruptcy works like this: Nature provides income
in the form of rain and snow, but the world is spending more than it
receives — extracting from its rivers, lakes, wetlands and underground
aquifers at a much faster rate than they are replenished, putting us in
debt. Climate change-fueled heat and drought are compounding the
problem, reducing available water.
22 | P a g e

The result is shrinking rivers and lakes, dried-up
wetlands, declining aquifers, crumbling land and sinkholes, the creep
of desertification, a dearth of snow and melting glaciers. The statistics in
the report are stark: more than 50% of the planet’s large lakes have lost
water since 1990, 70% of major aquifers are in long-term decline, an area
of wetlands almost the size of the European Union has been erased over
the past 50 years, and glaciers have shrunk 30% since 1970. Even in
places where water systems are less strained, pollution is reducing the
amount available for drinking.
“Many regions are living beyond their hydrological means” and it’s
impossible now to return to conditions that used to exist, Madani said. It
brings human consequences: nearly 4 billion people face water scarcity
for at least one month every year.
Remnants of a boat sit on the dry bed of Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran
on December 19, 2025. The lake has shrunk due to drought, river
damming and extensive groundwater extraction.
23 | P a g e

Yet, instead of recognizing the problem and adjusting consumption,
water is taken for granted and “credit lines keep increasing,” Madani said.
He referred to cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Tehran, where
expansion and development have been encouraged, despite limited
water supplies. “Everything looks right until it’s not,” and then it’s too
late, Madani said.
Some regions are affected more severely, the report noted. The Middle
East and North Africa grapple with high water stress and extreme climate
vulnerability.
Parts of South Asia are experiencing chronic declines in water due to
groundwater-dependent farming and ballooning urban populations.
The US Southwest is another a hotspot, according to the report. Madani
pointed to the Colorado River, where water sharing agreements are
based on an environmental situation that no longer exists. Drought has
shrunk the river, but it’s not a temporary crisis, he said, “it’s a permanent
new condition, and we have less water than before.”
24 | P a g e

The Hoover Dam along the Colorado River on March 14, 2025 in Boulder
City, Nevada.
The findings are alarming, but recognizing water bankruptcy can help
countries move from short term emergency thinking to long-term
strategies to reduce irreversible damage, Madani said.
The report calls for a series of actions, including transforming farming —
by far the biggest global user of water — through shifting crops and more
efficient irrigation; better water monitoring using AI and remote sensing;
reducing pollution; and increasing protection for wetlands and
groundwater.
Water could also be a “bridge in a fragmented world,” as an issue able to
transcend political differences, the report authors wrote. “We are seeing
more and more countries appreciating the value of it and the importance
of it, and that’s what makes me hopeful,” Madani said.
The report’s call to action “rightly centres on long-term recovery as
opposed to firefighting water crises,” wrote Richard Allen, a climate
science professor at the University of Reading, who was not involved in
the research. Limiting the climate change will also be vital to ensuring
enough water for people and ecosystems, he told CNN.
Jonathan Paul, associate professor in geoscience at Royal Holloway
University, said the report “lays bare, in unambiguous terms,
humankind’s mistreatment of water.” But he said the concept of global
water bankruptcy is “overstated,” even if many areas are expressing
acute water stress. Madani wants the report to spur action. “By
acknowledging the reality of water bankruptcy, we can finally make the
hard choices that will protect people, economies, and ecosystems. The
longer we delay, the deeper the deficit grows.”
25 | P a g e

THE GREAT AMERICAN DROUGHT: WHY
OUR WATER CRISIS IS JUST BEGINNING
As the sun beats down, our water resources are dwindling faster than we
can imagine. Join me on this journey to uncover the layers behind the
worsening drought crisis. Let's dive into solutions and why the future of
our water supply is more crucial than ever.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-great-americandrought-why-our-water-crisis-is-just-beginning/vi-AA1DQsy1
https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/weather/what-happenswhen-a-reservoir-runs-dry/vi-AA1OAyvT
26 | P a g e

THE YEAR WATER MAY RUN OUT FOR
GOOD
The Aquifer Is Dropping Faster Than Anyone Expected
43-foot decline the year before. 47-foot drop recorded between January
2023 and 2024.
This isn't just a bad year. Average annual water level declines from 1996
to 2024 measured roughly half a foot per year. Governor Laura Kelly
warned in her 2025 State of the State address that some parts of western
Kansas don't have groundwater enough to last another 25 years.
27 | P a g e

75 million acre-feet. Think about that ratio for a second.
The Kansas Geological Survey estimates that this district's portion of the
aquifer gets used up at nine times the rate that it's replenished by
precipitation. Crop irrigation accounts for 95% of all water use in western
Kansas. 5 billion gallons a day, pumped up and sprayed on crops.
FARM BANKRUPTCIES ARE ALREADY CLIMBING
While 2024 marked the end of a four-year downward trend in
bankruptcies, it appears to mark a turning point in long-term farm
financial health. Kansas had 10 farm bankruptcies in 2024. These
numbers don't tell the whole story, though. Net farm income in 2024
reached a four-year low, decreasing nearly 24% in just two years, as
lowered revenues and above-average production costs continue to
squeeze farmers and ranchers on both sides of the balance sheet.
28 | P a g e

S. Courts reports that 216 farm bankruptcies were filed in 2024, up 55%
from 2023.
THE RECHARGE RATE IS ESSENTIALLY ZERO
29 | P a g e

024 inches per year in parts of Texas and New Mexico to 6 inches per year
in south-central Kansas. The Ogallala is recharged primarily by rainwater,
but only about one inch of precipitation actually reaches the aquifer
annually. Recharge supplies 15% of current pumping and would take an
average of 500 to 1,300 years to completely refill a depleted aquifer.
Water that's finally dripping into the Ogallala's depths today may have
fallen as a raindrop a decade ago. The water table is hundreds of feet
down in many places.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WATER WE ALREADY HAD
30 | P a g e

So far, 30% of the groundwater has been pumped and another 39% will
be depleted over the next 50 years given existing trends. Large parts of
the region have seen more than half of their water disappear since the
dawn of irrigation, and Wallace County on the Colorado border has lost
roughly 80%.
Losses to the aquifer between 2001 and 2011 equated to a third of its
cumulative depletion during the entire 20th century. The pace of
extraction has accelerated sharply.
THE COST OF PUMPING GOES UP EVERY YEAR
As the water table drops, wells have to pump harder and deeper to reach
it. Communities impacted by the aquifer's depletion first face increasing
expenses associated with falling groundwater levels, including costs for
lifting water from deeper underground and extending or replacing failing
groundwater wells, and when those dry, costs could transfer to importing
water or other supply methods.
A Kansas State University study found the aquifer's worth to western
Kansas at nearly 4 billion dollars, and if the decline isn't drastically
slowed, western Kansas land will collectively lose 34 million dollars in
value each year by 2050.
Some areas got only eight or nine inches of water for the whole year
during recent drought periods. That's akin to the rain totals you'd see in
a desert. When surface rainfall disappears, farmers pump more from
underground just to keep crops alive. Western Kansas is a waterchallenged
place that gets about half as much precipitation as eastern
Kansas in an average year. Climate change is making extreme weather
more common.
31 | P a g e

DROUGHT CONDITIONS MAKE EVERYTHING WORSE
32 | P a g e
TOWNS WILL DISAPPEAR WITHOUT WATER
Depletion of the water supply would be a critical blow to major farming
and beef industries, which would send reverberations across the state,
and living farther east in places like Wichita, Topeka or the Kansas City
area won't make you immune to the effects of lost jobs and tax revenue.
A recent survey from the Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College
Polling found that 48% of Kansans said they have never heard of the
aquifer. A depleted aquifer that can't support any irrigation would
essentially end life in western Kansas as we know it, with residents and
businesses leaving town and empty storefronts on Main Street

THE ECONOMIC RIPPLE EFFECT IS ALREADY STARTING
33 | P a g e

Which adds up to 20% of the nation's wheat, corn, cotton and cattle
production and represents 30% of all water used for irrigation in the
United States. When Kansas agriculture falters, grocery prices across the
country feel it. Feed yards shut down. Implement dealers close.
Groundwater is depleting fastest in southwest Kansas due to irrigation of
crops like corn, wheat or alfalfa, a multibillion-dollar industry for the
state.
CONSERVATION EFFORTS ARE TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
34 | P a g e

Just by getting Kansas farmers to universally adopt current water-saving
tools available to them, estimates suggest the state might be able to
reduce its water use by up to 20%, which could mean the aquifer's
around for another 50 or 100 years depending on how soon more
irrigators get on board. Here's the thing, though: that requires every
single farmer to cooperate.
A K-State survey of more than 1,000 farmers across the Ogallala region
shows a massive disconnect between how many of them believe
depletion is a problem and how many believe they are personally
responsible for it. That disconnect has remained stubbornly unchanged
for decades.
The reality for Kansas farmers is stark. Water levels keep falling while
costs keep rising.
The financial pressures from declining aquifer levels, combined with
climbing interest rates and stagnant commodity prices, are creating a
perfect storm. Some operations will survive by adapting quickly to
dryland farming or less water-intensive crops, while others will sell out or
declare bankruptcy.
The question isn't whether western Kansas farming will change, but
whether enough water will remain to support any farming at all. What
do you think about it?
35 | P a g e

THE DARK TRUTH ABOUT IRAN'S WATER:
WHY THE NATION'S AQUIFERS ARE
COLLAPSING
36 | P a g e

THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE – IRAN LOST TWICE ITS ANNUAL WATER
CONSUMPTION IN LESS THAN TWO DECADES
Iran lost about 211 ± 34 km³ of its total water storage - more than twice
the nation's annual water consumption - within just the 2003-2019
period. Let's be real, these aren't just statistics gathered by some distant
researchers. Using in situ data from 12,230 piezometers, 14,856
observation wells, and groundwater extraction points, the evidence
shows groundwater withdrawal decreased by 18% between 2002 and
2015 - primarily due to physical limits to fresh groundwater resources.
The wells aren't drying up because people stopped pumping. They're
drying up because there's simply nothing left to pump. From 2002 to
2017, the nationwide groundwater recharge declined by around -3.8
mm/yr. What makes this particularly chilling is the scale.
Researcher Kaveh Madani estimates a loss of more than 210 cubic
kilometers of stored water in the first two decades of this century.
It's hard to say for sure how any nation recovers from that kind of
depletion, but the data suggests Iran might not.
Iran has around one million wells, half of which are illegal. Think about
that for a second. Roughly 500,000 unauthorized extraction points are
actively draining aquifers with zero oversight.
According to Mohammad Hajrasouliha, managing director of Iran Water
Resources Management Company, there are almost 320,000 illegal wells,
and between 13,000 and 14,000 illegal wells are sealed yearly. Sealing
14,000 wells every year sounds impressive until you realize it barely
makes a dent.
37 | P a g e

In Sistan alone, groundwater is extracted at the rate of two billion cubic
metres per year, of which 1.6 billion cubic metres are extracted from
illegal wells. The majority of extraction comes from unauthorized
sources, which tells you everything about how much control authorities
actually have over this crisis.
38 | P a g e

AGRICULTURE CONSUMES OVER 90 PERCENT OF WATER
BUT GENERATES ONLY 10 PERCENT OF GDP
The agricultural sector generates about 10% of the country's gross
domestic product but consumes 92% of the country's fresh water. Here's
the thing - nobody's questioning whether farming matters. It absolutely
does.
The problem is that Iran's push for agricultural self-sufficiency under
international sanctions has created a water imbalance that's now
impossible to sustain. The Islamic Republic's long-standing commitment
to agricultural self-sufficiency prioritized national food security over
environmental sustainability, promoting crops such as rice, wheat, and
sugar beet - even in areas unsuitable for high water consumption.
Iran does not have the water and soil capacities, and nearly 30 percent
of agricultural produce is wasted due to a lack of infrastructure, outdated
irrigation practices and misguided crop selection. Honestly, when you're
wasting nearly one-third of your crops while draining ancient aquifers,
something has gone terribly wrong with your planning.
THE IRGC'S DAM-BUILDING EMPIRE AND THE WATER MAFIA
Government mismanagement and corruption also contributed - the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' dam-building firm, Sepasad, was one
of several companies that prioritized political power and predatory
profit-seeking. This isn't some conspiracy theory floating around social
media. The IRGC operates what's been described as a water mafia,
spearheading massive and environmentally ruinous dam-building
projects across Iran without proper ecological assessments. These
39 | P a g e

projects disrupted natural water flows, dried up rivers, and created
severe social tensions over water rights in multiple provinces.
Official and academic reports reveal that a significant portion of illegal
groundwater extraction is carried out by entities enjoying legal and
regulatory immunity, most notably the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps and its affiliated companies. The silence from oversight bodies isn't
accidental. When military institutions control water resources, civilian
authorities tend to keep quiet.
TEHRAN'S RESERVOIRS ARE NEARLY EMPTY – AND IT'S GETTING WORSE
In early 2025, Tehran's five main reservoirs held only about 13% of their
capacity, with one vital source, Lar Dam, almost empty at just 1% full. The
capital city - home to more than 10 million people - is staring down the
possibility of Day Zero. Water reserves in the Karaj Dam plummeted from
111 million cubic meters in September 2024 to a mere 28 mcm in
September 2025 - a staggering 75 percent loss in a single year.
Satellite analysis shows Lar and Latyan reservoirs shrank by more than 70
percent between June and November 2025, far exceeding normal
seasonal variation, while Taleqan and Amir Kabir declined by 28 percent
and 20 percent, respectively. Climate change plays a role, sure. But
decades of mismanagement set the stage for this collapse.
LAND SUBSIDENCE IS LITERALLY SWALLOWING CITIES
Over the last five decades, Iran has depleted around 70% of its
groundwater reserves, and this overuse has led to severe land
subsidence in various regions - for example, Tehran subsides at a rate of
up to 25 cm per year, indicating the collapsing aquifers beneath the
capital city. Buildings crack. Roads buckle.
40 | P a g e

41 | P a g e

THE DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT QANAT SYSTEMS – A
TRAGEDY OF MODERNIZATION
Iran had pioneered water management systems - known as the qanat or
karez - millennia ago, but during the past several decades, it abandoned
and replaced the qanat with wells, aquifers, and other modern systems
that were less efficient or environmentally friendly.
The irony is almost painful. A nation that invented one of the world's
most sustainable water systems threw it away in pursuit of short-term
agricultural gains. In the past 40 years, Iranians have sunk more than a
million wells fitted with powerful pumps.
Hydrologists say about half of Iran's qanat systems have been rendered
waterless by poor maintenance or overpumping. These underground
channels worked for thousands of years because they respected the
natural recharge rates of aquifers. Modern deep wells don't care about
sustainability - they just extract until there's nothing left.
42 | P a g e

CLIMATE CHANGE MAKES EVERYTHING WORSE – BUT
IT'S NOT THE ROOT CAUSE
The 2024-25 water year has been described as one of the most
challenging in Iran's history, with average rainfall about 45% below
normal, and nineteen provinces in significant drought - for example,
Hormozgan reported a 77% decrease in rainfall, and Sistan-Baluchestan
a 72% drop. Iran is now in its sixth consecutive year of drought, which is
at a scale, intensity and duration that is unprecedented in modern times.
The weather certainly isn't helping.
Here's where experts agree: Noori identifies "human intervention" as the
main cause of reduced aquifer recharge - especially dams and
abstractions for irrigation that dry up rivers, natural lakes, and wetlands,
whose seepage is another major source of recharge. Climate change
amplifies the crisis, but mismanagement created it. Without the decades
of over-extraction and poor planning, Iran would be better equipped to
handle droughts.
43 | P a g e

WATER PROTESTS ARE ESCALATING INTO POLITICAL CONFRONTATION
Farmers' protests in Isfahan in April 2025 have occasionally escalated into
clashes with security forces, road blockages, and attacks on construction
sites, highlighting how hydrological stress intersects with ethnic identity,
structural inequalities, and contested state-society relations. Water isn't
just an environmental issue anymore - it's a political flashpoint.
In late March 2025, after a winter of sparse rain, authorities closed the
Zayandeh Rud river after a brief release, and enraged farmers from East
Isfahan retaliated by breaking the water pipeline to Yazd and wrecking
several pumping stations.
A survey conducted in September found that 75 percent of Iranians
blamed the crisis on mismanagement and inefficiency instead of natural
factors and economic sanctions. When three-quarters of your population
points to government failure rather than weather patterns, you've lost
legitimacy on a fundamental level.
44 | P a g e

THE GOVERNMENT IS CONSIDERING EVACUATING
TEHRAN – AND IMPORTING WATER
PRESIDENT MASOUD PEZESHKIAN said that evacuations of parts of
Tehran could be necessary if Tehran does not receive rainfall soon, and
warned that Iran now has "no choice" but to move its capital, as the
central Iranian plateau is becoming uninhabitable and Tehran is
becoming ecologically unsustainable. Moving a capital of 10 million
people isn't a short-term fix. Analysts estimate such a project could cost
potentially $100 billion and take decades to complete.
Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi confirmed that Iran is exploring
agreements to import water from neighbouring countries as a way to
address critically low water levels - officials and analysts view this move
as an acknowledgment that domestic resources can no longer meet
national demand. For a nation that has prided itself on self-sufficiency,
importing water marks a profound shift in reality.
Iran's aquifer collapse isn't a distant threat anymore. It's here, and it's
accelerating. The combination of illegal extraction, military-backed water
projects, agricultural policies that ignore environmental limits, and
permanent aquifer damage has created a crisis that might be irreversible.
What happens when a nation of over 90 million people runs out of
water? We're about to find out.
45 | P a g e

Revelation 8:7
First Trumpet: Vegetation Struck
The first angel sounded: And
hail and fire followed, mingled
with blood, and they were
thrown to the earth. And a third
of the trees were burned up, and
all green grass was burned up.
46 | P a g e

70% OF WORLD’S AQUIFERS FACE COLLAPSE
AS UN DECLARES ‘WATER BANKRUPTCY’—
AMERICANS BRACE FOR CRISIS
The world’s water accounts are running dry. For decades, scientists
warned about a water crisis, a term that suggested a serious but
temporary emergency, something humanity might recover from with
enough effort. A new United Nations report released on January 20,
2026, paints a far more permanent picture: many of Earth’s most
important water systems have already passed the point of no return and
will not return to their former state.
47 | P a g e

This is not a bump in the road, it is a deep structural change in how water
exists and moves around our planet. Scientists say these changes are no
longer isolated or temporary events but part of a lasting global pattern.
On January 20, 2026, the United Nations University Institute for Water,
Environment and Health made a declaration that marks a turning point
in global environmental policy: the world has entered an era of “water
bankruptcy.” This phrase is not just a dramatic label. It describes a
condition in which humanity has withdrawn so much water, and polluted
so many sources, that natural inflows can no longer keep up, and much
of the damage cannot be reversed.
In economic terms, the planet’s water account is not merely overdrawn;
it is structurally insolvent. The language matters. A “crisis” implies a shock
from which recovery is possible. “Bankruptcy” signals that the system
itself has failed. Wetlands that once filtered and stored water have been
drained or paved over.
48 | P a g e

Groundwater has long functioned as humanity’s hidden safety net, the
silent reserve people tap when rivers dry and rains fail. That underground
reserve is collapsing. According to the UN water report, about 70 percent
of the world’s major aquifers are now in long-term decline, shrinking
faster than nature can refill them. These aquifers supply roughly half of
all domestic drinking water and more than 40 percent of irrigation water
used to grow food globally.
This is not a one-off reaction to a bad drought, but a pattern created by
decades of over-pumping for farms, expanding cities, and heavy industry.
In many regions, wells must be drilled deeper each year, chasing water
that is slipping away. As aquifers drain, land above them can sink,
cracking roads, damaging buildings, and breaking pipes.
49 | P a g e

Across the globe, lakes and glaciers are shrinking at a pace that shocks
even veteran scientists. Studies cited in the UN report show that more
than half of the world’s large lakes have lost water since the early 1990s,
even as a quarter of the world’s population depends directly on these
lakes for drinking water and food production. At the same time, global
glacier mass has fallen by about 30 percent since 1970, with some
mountain ranges expected to lose most of their functional glaciers within
decades.
Lakes like Chad in Africa and the Aral Sea in Central Asia have shrunk
dramatically, while iconic glaciers in the Alps, Andes, and Himalayas
retreat year after year. These systems act as giant natural storage banks,
holding water in ice and large basins and releasing it slowly over time.
50 | P a g e

At the heart of the UN assessment lies a difficult message: many of the
world’s water systems have already crossed tipping points and cannot be
brought back to what they once were. This is the defining feature of
water bankruptcy. Instead of talking about a shortage that can be
managed and reversed, experts are describing the permanent loss of
natural water capital.
Wetlands covering an area nearly the size of the European Union have
been drained or destroyed, wiping out crucial habitats and natural water
filters. In many places, aquifers have been pumped so heavily that their
underground structure has collapsed, reducing the space where water
can be stored. Land in deltas and coastal cities has sunk, in some cases
by meters, because groundwater was removed from deep below.
Behind every chart and map are people whose lives are becoming more
precarious. The UN report estimates that nearly four billion people
experience severe water scarcity for at least one month every year,
meaning they struggle to secure enough water for drinking, cooking, and
basic hygiene. Another 2.2 billion people do not have access to safely
managed drinking water, and about 3.5 billion lack safe sanitation.
Altogether, almost three-quarters of the world’s population now lives in
countries that are classified as water-insecure or critically
water-insecure. The physical ground beneath many communities is also
literally shifting. Around two billion people live on land that is sinking due
to groundwater over-pumping, with some cities subsiding by up to 25
centimeters each year.
51 | P a g e

Water bankruptcy is global, but some regions are facing more extreme
pressure than others. The Middle East and North Africa stand out as
severe hotspots, where naturally low rainfall collides with rising
temperatures, rapid population growth, and political tensions. Many
countries there are already using far more water than their renewable
supplies can support.
In South Asia, relentless groundwater pumping for rice and wheat,
combined with expanding cities, has caused water tables to fall sharply,
while land subsidence threatens infrastructure. The report highlights that
large parts of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are on a dangerous path.
In the United States, the Colorado River Basin has become a symbol of
over-promised water.
52 | P a g e

Mexico City and Kabul illustrate how water bankruptcy can push major
urban centers toward the edge. Mexico City, home to around 21 million
people, is sinking by roughly 20 inches a year in some areas due to
relentless pumping of its underlying aquifers. Streets buckle, homes
crack, and water pipes rupture, even as residents struggle with shortages
and rationing. Engineers warn that some damage is irreversible, raising
serious questions about the city’s long-term viability.
Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, faces a different but equally alarming
threat. With rapid population growth, limited infrastructure, and
shrinking groundwater, researchers warn the city could effectively run
out of usable water by 2030 if current trends continue. That would make
Kabul one of the first modern megacities to exhaust its water supply.
53 | P a g e

Agriculture is the biggest user of freshwater on Earth, consuming about
70 percent of all withdrawals, and it is also one of the sectors most
exposed to water bankruptcy. The UN report finds that over 170 million
hectares of irrigated cropland, an area roughly equal to France, Spain,
Germany, and Italy combined—faces high or very high water stress. In
many of these regions, farmers rely heavily on dwindling rivers and
over-pumped aquifers.
At the same time, around 100 million hectares of farmland have been
damaged by salinization, where salts build up in the soil due to poor
irrigation and drainage, reducing yields or rendering land unusable.
About three billion people and more than half of global food production
are located in areas where total water storage is already declining or
unstable.
54 | P a g e

Water bankruptcy does not stay within national borders. When a key
farming region runs short of water, the effects can spread through trade,
markets, and migration. The UN report warns that water bankruptcy is
becoming a powerful driver of fragility, displacement, and conflict. If a
drought in a major grain-producing region leads to crop failure, global
food prices can spike, hitting low-income countries hardest and fueling
unrest.
Conflicts over access to rivers and aquifers can strain relations between
neighboring states. Within countries, competition between farmers,
cities, and industries for shrinking supplies can inflame social tensions.
55 | P a g e

The economic costs of water bankruptcy are already staggering.
According to estimates highlighted in the UN report, drought alone drains
about 307 billion U.S. dollars from the global economy every year. These
losses come from failed harvests, reduced hydropower generation,
damaged infrastructure, and emergency response. Beyond that, the
disappearance of wetlands, which filter water, store floods, support
fisheries, and provide other services, represents an annual loss in natural
value of more than 5.1 trillion dollars.
That figure is roughly equivalent to the combined yearly output of around
135 of the world’s poorest countries. These are not theoretical numbers
for the future; they reflect money that is being lost today. For many
developing nations, spending to cope with water disasters takes funds
away from schools, hospitals, and economic development.
56 | P a g e

One of the most striking aspects of the UN report is its decision to move
beyond familiar terms like water stress and water crisis. Those words
suggest problems that, while serious, can be overcome with the right
policies and investments.
Insolvency means we are consistently taking more water out of systems
than is being renewed. Irreversibility means the natural systems that
once stored and regulated water, wetlands, aquifers, glaciers, have been
damaged in ways that cannot simply be repaired.
The report calls for a complete shift in how governments and societies
approach water. Instead of focusing on short-term crisis response, drilling
emergency wells, trucking in water, or building one more dam, it urges
countries to adopt what might be called bankruptcy management.
They will need to rebalance water rights among farmers, cities,
industries, and ecosystems within smaller, more realistic limits.
Water-intensive sectors like agriculture may have to change crops, adopt
new technologies, or relocate.
57 | P a g e

To drive this shift, the UNU-INWEH report was released ahead of the
2026 UN Water Conference in Dakar, Senegal, held on January 26–27,
with a larger follow-up conference planned in the United Arab Emirates
in December 2026. These meetings are seen as crucial moments to
redefine global water policy. The report urges world leaders to officially
recognize water bankruptcy as a framework for understanding current
realities.
It calls for new systems that use Earth-observation satellites and artificial
intelligence to monitor water levels, use, and quality more accurately and
transparently. Water, the report argues, should be treated as a central
connector in international efforts on climate action, biodiversity
protection, and peacebuilding.
58 | P a g e

The declaration of global water bankruptcy is not intended as a message
of despair, but as a demand for realism and transformation. Humanity
cannot regrow glaciers or restore compacted aquifers on any meaningful
timescale, but it can choose to stop further destruction and to redesign
economies, cities, and food systems to operate within new limits.
The choice now facing governments and societies is stark. One path is
denial, continuing to manage water as if full recovery is possible and
postponing difficult decisions. The other is adaptation, accepting
irreversible changes and investing in resilience, conservation, and fair
allocation. Over the next decade, those decisions will determine whether
billions of people are able to adjust to new water realities or are pushed
into hunger, migration, and conflict.
Sources:
UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health – Global
Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-
Crisis Era – 20 January 2026
UN News – World enters era of “global water bankruptcy” – 19 January
2026
ABC News – The planet has entered an era of “water bankruptcy,”
according to a new UN report – 21 January 2026
CNN – The world has entered a new era of “water bankruptcy” with
irreversible consequences, UN warns – 20 January 2026
Reuters (via Daily Maverick) – Looming water supply “bankruptcy” puts
billions at risk, UN report warns – 19 January 2026
59 | P a g e

60 | P a g e

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/70853143/tehran-mayface-evacuation-due-to-drought-preparing-for-armageddon
61 | P a g e

WHY IRAN’S COLLAPSE MIGHT
START WITH A DRIED-UP RIVER
Iran’s greatest threat isn’t war — it’s water. Once-thriving cities are now
sinking into drought, while rivers vanish and farmland collapses. Behind
the scenes, a corrupt network of elites — dubbed the “water mafia” —
profits from reckless mega-projects that drain aquifers dry. This crisis isn’t
just environmental — it’s political, ethnic, and existential. Watch what
happens when a nation runs out of water… and time.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/why-iran-s-collapsemight-start-with-a-dried-up-river/vi-AA1STLWy
62 | P a g e

WE'RE LOSING THE LAND – HOW 74% OF
SPAIN FACES DESERTIFICATION
Spain is drying up. Over 74% of its territory is now in the process of
desertification, and regions like Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia may
soon become irreversible wastelands. Once Europe’s thriving agricultural
hub, Spain’s industrial-scale farming model — fueled by massive water
consumption and outdated infrastructure — is breaking under the
pressure of climate change. If Madrid doesn’t act fast, the continent’s
food security could be next.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/we-re-losing-the-landhow-74-of-spain-faces-desertification/vi-AA1UlJgy
63 | P a g e

A DRYING CLIMATE IS MAKING EAST
AFRICA PULL APART FASTER
64 | P a g e

Over the past 5,000 years, East Africa has dried out. Now, new research
finds that this change may be making the continent pull apart faster.
Faults in the East African Rift Zone have sped up since the levels of large
lakes have dropped, according to research published in November in the
journal Scientific Reports.
The findings highlight the two-way relationship between the climate
and plate tectonics, said study senior author Christopher Scholz, a
geologist, physicist and professor emeritus at Columbia University.
"Usually it is something we think about the other way around: Mountains
build, and that changes the local or regional climate," Scholz told Live
Science. "But it can work the other way around too." Scholz and his
colleagues conducted their research at Lake Turkana in Kenya, which is
155 miles (250 kilometers) long, 19 miles (30 km) wide, and up to 400
feet (120 meters) deep in places. That's nothing, however, compared
with the level more than 5,000 years ago, when the lake was up to 500
feet (150 m) deeper.
That was during the African Humid Period, when much of Africa was
wetter than it is today. In East Africa, this period persisted from about
9,600 years ago to 5,300 years ago, with drier conditions prevailing over
the past 5,300 years. The researchers studied lake-bed sediments to
determine ancient water levels and sediment flows into Lake Turkana. In
the process, they noticed many small faults and the fingerprints of longago
earthquakes in the sediments. The tectonic plate that underlies
Africa is pulling apart in eastern Africa and may one day split into two
plates with an ocean between them. The deep, narrow lakes in the region
— including Lake Turkana and nearby waterways, such as Lake Malawi in
Tanzania and Mozambique —, are the result of this rifting process, which
is creating a deep valley in the region.
65 | P a g e

Scholz and his team wanted to know if the changes in the lakes
themselves were influencing this rifting process. Water matters to
tectonics: When glaciers retreat, for example, the lifting of their weight
actually causes the land beneath to spring up like rising bread — a
process called isostatic rebound. Large amounts of water similarly press
down on the crust beneath, potentially affecting processes
like earthquakes. The researchers found that after the end of the African
Humid Period, the faults in Lake Turkana began to move faster, at an
average rate of 0.007 inches (0.17 millimeters) of extra movement per
year. In general, Africa is rifting apart at 0.25 inches (6.35 millimeters) per
year.
66 | P a g e

Using computer simulations, the researchers figured out that this seismic
speedup likely has two causes. One is that with less water pressing down
on the crust, the faults have more freedom to move: Imagine a vise
loosening around two slabs of wood. The other cause is more indirect.
On an island in the south side of Lake Turkana is a volcano with an active
magma chamber. The removal of water from the African Humid Period
decompresses the mantle under this volcano, leading to more melting.
That melt, in turn, moves into the volcano's magma chamber, inflating it
and leading to more tectonic activity on nearby fault lines.
"We see enhanced faulting during this time interval, so more pronounced
earthquakes are presumably prevalent in this broader region now
compared to 8,000 years ago," Scholz said. The researchers are now
working on a project at Lake Malawi looking at water level changes going
back 1.4 million years, hoping to get a better sense of how the climate
affects the separation of continents. "This information about these huge
changes in water volumes in these lakes is a really important part of the
story," Scholz said.
67 | P a g e

CONSERVATION ALONE MAY NOT SAVE
OUR WATER SUPPLIES, NEW STUDY WARNS
68 | P a g e

Water utilities have long leaned on conservation campaigns as their first
line of defense against scarcity, urging households to fix leaks, swap out
toilets, and let lawns go brown. A growing body of research now suggests
that, on a rapidly warming planet, those measures will not be enough to
keep taps running. The emerging message is blunt: cutting demand is
essential, but without deeper structural changes to how societies store,
price, and govern water, conservation alone will not save our supplies.
That warning lands at a moment when scientists say the world has
already crossed into a new era of chronic shortage, with aquifers, rivers,
and glaciers depleted faster than they can recover. I see a widening gap
between the comforting promise that small individual sacrifices can solve
the crisis and the harder reality that the entire water economy, from farm
fields to megacities, is running a long term deficit.
WHY EFFICIENCY GAINS ARE HITTING A HARD CEILING
For years, utilities and local governments have treated conservation as a
near limitless resource, assuming that better technology and public
awareness could always squeeze more savings from the same pipes.
Research from Pennsylvania State University challenges that optimism,
arguing that as temperatures rise and supplies shrink, efficiency alone
cannot guarantee reliable municipal service. I read that work as a reality
check on the idea that utilities can simply keep asking customers to do
more with less while avoiding tougher choices about infrastructure,
pricing, and land use.
The Penn State team, which includes Jan in the College of Earth and
Mineral Sciences, points out that hotter conditions increase both
evaporation and demand, eroding the gains from low flow fixtures and
leak detection. In practice, that means cities can hit a point where every
69 | P a g e

reasonable conservation measure is already in place, yet reservoirs still
drop because climate stress and population growth outpace savings. I see
this as the water sector’s version of the “efficiency paradox”: without
parallel investments in new supplies, smarter storage, and demand
management that reaches beyond households into agriculture and
industry, conservation becomes a holding action rather than a long term
solution.
THE WORLD’S SLIDE INTO “WATER BANKRUPTCY”
Global assessments now describe the crisis in stark financial terms,
warning that humanity is drawing down its liquid assets faster than
nature can replenish them. A landmark United Nations analysis,
summarized by UN scientists, concludes that the planet has entered an
“era of global water bankruptcy,” where many regions have already
consumed the reserves on which they depend. In that framing, rivers,
lakes, glaciers, and aquifers function like savings accounts that have been
quietly emptied to prop up short term growth.
Researchers quoted in a separate assessment say this is not a passing
emergency but a structural shift in which underground aquifers, glaciers,
and ecosystems have been pushed beyond the point at which they can
realistically recover, a trend detailed in a recent U.N. report. When I look
at that language, I see a direct challenge to the comforting notion that a
few dry years will be followed by a return to normal. Instead, the science
suggests that “normal” has been redefined by decades of over pumping
and warming, and that many communities are now living off overdrafts
that conservation campaigns alone cannot repay.
https://youtu.be/L6QLmuwjZc0
70 | P a g e

BILLIONS ALREADY LIVE WITH INSECURE SUPPLIES
The scale of that overdraft is staggering. According to a U.N. backed
analysis, Three quarters of the world’s population, about 6.1
billion people, now live in countries where freshwater supplies are
insecure. That figure alone undercuts any suggestion that the problem is
confined to a handful of arid nations or mismanaged cities. It describes a
world in which water stress is the default condition for most people, not
an exception.
On the ground, that stress shows up in places as varied as the Jaguari
Jacarei dam in Joanopolis in Sao Paulo in Brazil, where a recent drought
left the reservoir shrunken and exposed, a scene captured in reporting
on The Jaguari. It is visible in Tehran, where years of unsustainable
withdrawals have combined with drought to leave taps unreliable and
protests simmering, a pattern described in detail in accounts of Water
bankruptcy signs. When I connect those dots, it is clear that the crisis is
not just about dry riverbeds, it is about political stability, migration, and
public health in countries that span every income level.
FRESHWATER IS VANISHING FASTER THAN POLICY CAN KEEP UP
Behind these local emergencies lies a global pattern of physical loss. A
major international study led by scientists earlier this year found that
freshwater is disappearing at alarming rates on every continent, with
satellites and ground measurements showing shrinking lakes, rivers, and
aquifers. One of the lead authors argued that the research “clearly shows
that we urgently need new policies and groundwater management
strategies on a global scale” to address the growing freshwater crisis, a
conclusion detailed in a global study.
71 | P a g e

Another U.N. focused analysis describes how this depletion reflects the
rapid exhaustion of the planet’s natural “water savings accounts,”
reducing buffers against drought, amplifying climate damage, and
intensifying social conflict, a dynamic laid out in a recent global
assessment. I read that as a warning that the crisis is not only about how
much water flows from taps today, but about the loss of resilience that
once allowed societies to ride out bad years. When those buffers are
gone, even modest dry spells can trigger cascading failures in food
systems, energy grids, and urban services, no matter how efficient
individual households have become.
72 | P a g e
FROM HOUSEHOLD FIXES TO SYSTEMIC REFORM
If the world is already in water bankruptcy, the logical question is what
comes after the emergency conservation phase. One answer, offered by
U.N. Under Secretary General Tshilidzi Marwal, is that water scarcity is
becoming a driver of fragility, displacement, and conflict, and that the
deeper the deficit grows, the harder it becomes to restore balance, a
point underscored in a recent statement from Water experts. In that
light, I see conservation not as a standalone fix but as one tool in a
broader strategy that must include rethinking subsidies, reallocating
water from low value uses, and investing in infrastructure that can cope
with more volatile flows.
The Penn State research suggests that public policy can and must bolster
municipal provision by pairing demand reduction with measures like
diversified supply portfolios, upgraded distribution networks, and pricing
structures that reflect scarcity without cutting off the poorest
households, an approach outlined in the Pennsylvania State
University analysis. When I put that alongside the U.N. warnings about

depleted savings accounts and the lived reality in places from Joanopolis
to Tehran, the conclusion is unavoidable: personal restraint remains vital,
but only governments and large water users can close the structural
deficit. The era of easy wins from low flow showerheads is over; what
comes next is the harder work of redesigning entire water systems to live
within the planet’s means.
WHERE DROUGHT IS SO BAD,
PEOPLE CAN’T LIVE THERE
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/where-droughtis-so-bad-people-can-t-live-there/vi-AA1R7PJn
73 | P a g e

CYPRUS WATER EMERGENCY: CITIZENS
URGED TO REDUCE WATER USE AS DAMS
REACH RECORD LOW
74 | P a g e

Water resources in Cyprus have reached a state of emergency in the face
of extreme, prolonged droughts.
Rainfall in recent days has done little to alleviate the situation, with the
country's agriculture minister saying that inflow to the dams totals a
mere two million cubic metres so far, with reserves sitting at just 10 per
cent.
In an emergency meeting held on Friday 23 January, the Cypriot Council
of Ministers approved a new package of measures worth €31 million,
with the total projects amounting to more than €200 million.
Citizens asked to reduce water usage by 10 per cent
The government aims to have a total of nine new desalination plants in
operation by the end of 2026. But the measures do not stop there and
citizens have been invited to join the effort.
In particular, the Agriculture Minister said that everyone should
personally reduce their water consumption by 10 per cent, which
equates to reducing running water usage by two minutes per day.
Farmers have already been informed that they will receive 30 per cent
less water this year compared with last year.
Cyprus is consulting with the United Arab Emirates, both to provide
expertise on water scarcity and to supply desalination plants.
In 2025, the Arab country sent 13 desalination units to Cyprus free of
charge under a bilateral agreement.
75 | P a g e

WORLD NOT READY FOR RISE IN
EXTREME HEAT, SCIENTISTS SAY
76 | P a g e

Nearly 3.8 billion people could face extreme heat by 2050 and while
tropical countries will bear the brunt cooler regions will also need to
adapt, scientists said Monday.
Demand for cooling will "drastically" increase in giant countries like
Brazil, Indonesia and Nigeria, where hundreds of millions of people lack
air conditioning or other means of beating the heat.
But even a moderate increase in hotter days could have a "severe impact"
in nations not used to such conditions like Canada, Russia and Finland,
said scientists from the University of Oxford.
In a new study, they looked at different global warming scenarios to
project how often people in future might experience temperatures
considered uncomfortably hot or cold.
They found "that the population experiencing extreme heat conditions is
projected to nearly double" by 2050 if global average temperatures rise
2C above preindustrial times.
But most of the impact would be felt this decade as the world fast
approaches the 1.5C mark, the study's lead author Jesus Lizana told AFP.
"The key take away from this is that the need for adaptation to extreme
heat is more urgent than previously known," said Lizana, an
environmental scientist.
"New infrastructure, such as sustainable air conditioning or passive
cooling, needs to be built out within the next few years to ensure people
can cope with dangerous heat."
77 | P a g e

Prolonged exposure to extreme heat can overwhelm the body's natural
cooling systems, causing symptoms ranging from dizziness and
headaches to organ failure and death.
It is often called a silent killer because most heat deaths occur gradually
as high temperatures and other environmental factors work together to
undermine the body's internal thermostat.
Climate change is making heatwaves longer and stronger and access to
cooling -- especially air conditioning -- will be vital in future.
- 'Dangerously underprepared' -
The study, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, projected that
3.79 billion people worldwide could be exposed to extreme heat by mid
century.
This would "drastically" increase energy demand for cooling in
developing nations where the gravest health consequences would be
felt. India, the Philippines and Bangladesh would be among biggest
populations impacted.
The most significant change in "cooling degree days" -- temperatures hot
enough to require cooling, such as air conditioning or fans -- were
projected in tropical or equatorial countries, particularly in Africa.
Central African Republic, Nigeria, South Sudan, Laos and Brazil saw the
biggest rise in dangerously hot temperatures.
"Put simply, the most disadvantaged people are the ones who will bare
the brunt of this trend our study shows for ever hotter days," urban
climate scientist and research co-author Radhika Khosla told AFP.
78 | P a g e

But wealthier countries in traditionally cooler climates also "face a major
a problem -- even if many do not realise it yet", she added.
Countries like Canada, Russia and Finland may experience steep drops in
"heating degree days" -- temperatures low enough to require indoor
heating -- under a 2C scenario.
But even a moderate rise in hotter temperatures would be felt more
acutely in countries not designed to withstand heat, the authors said.
In these countries, homes and buildings are usually constructed to
maximise sunshine and reduce ventilation, and public transport runs
without air conditioning.
Some cold-climate nations may see a drop in heating bills, Lizana said,
but over time these savings would likely be replaced by cooling costs,
including in Europe where air conditioning is still rare.
"Wealthier countries cannot sit back and assume they will be OK -– in
many cases they are dangerously underprepared for the heat that is
coming over the next few years," he said.
79 | P a g e

REVELATION 16:8-10 FOURTH BOWL: MEN ARE SCORCHED
Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was
given to him TO SCORCH MEN WITH FIRE. AND MEN WERE SCORCHED
WITH GREAT HEAT, and they blasphemed the name of God who has
power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.
80 | P a g e

SAUDI ARABIA’S PLAN TO TURN ONE OF
THE WORLD’S HARSHEST DESERTS INTO A
GREEN LANDSCAPE
Saudi Arabia is investing hundreds of billions to replant forests, build
massive parks, and reshape life in one of the driest regions on Earth. This
video examines the scale of these green ambitions, the technology
behind them, and whether they can truly work in the desert.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/saudi-arabia-splan-to-turn-one-of-the-world-s-harshest-deserts-into-agreen-landscape/vi-AA1UASqt
81 | P a g e

82 | P a g e

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/70854514/kin
g-salman-calls-for-rain-seeking-prayer-more-to-the-prayerthan-meets-the-eye
83 | P a g e

84 | P a g e

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/70740441/dro
ught-and-excrutiating-record-heat-beginning-of-sorrowssummer-2025
85 | P a g e

86 | P a g e

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/70078957/fait
h-and-salvation-for-the-lost
87 | P a g e

88 | P a g e

89 | P a g e

90 | P a g e