Today, water providers around the globe are facing a perfect storm. Population growth and rising average incomes have caused global water demand to increase six-fold over the last century. At the same time, water supply is dwindling in many parts of the world due to climate change and pollution, as shown in Figure 1 below. Moreover, the world’s existing water infrastructure is in desperate need of replacement, which will cost trillions of dollars over the next decades. This all boils down to a simple fact: securing access to clean water for the entire global population will be one of the defining challenges of the 21st century.
