Everything Water

Fact: Energy has oil markets. Tech has VC. Water — the most fundamental input to life and economy — still lacks coordinated early-stage capital or infrastructure buy-in.

Fact: As scarcity accelerates, access to water technology, treatment IP, and resilient supply chains will become a geopolitical asset class.

Fact: From hydrogen to battery production, green steel to data centres — the entire climate transition is water-intensive.

Fact: Insurance losses from water-related events now outpace fire and wind in many markets.

Fact: You can replace fossil fuels. You can switch food crops. But there is no substitute for water.

Fact: Water systems are shovel-ready, commercially viable, and universally needed. The pipeline exists — the capital doesn’t.

Fact: Water is a $800B+ global sector, but most businesses are small, public, or undercapitalised.

Fact: From Nile Basin politics to Himalayan meltwater to Gulf desalination — next-gen geopolitics will be blue, not black (oil).

Fact: While tech chases the next break, investing in water means building what’s unbreakable.

Fact: As risk, regulation, and need converge, the first $10B watertech company will emerge — and smart capital will be there early.

Fact: The World Bank and United Nations have both warned that water insecurity can act as a ‘threat multiplier’ — escalating tensions over migration, agriculture, and borders, particularly in already vulnerable regions.

Fact: In regions like the Andes, Himalayas, and Alps, glacier melt has increased river flows — but once glaciers vanish, long-term water availability drops sharply.

Fact: Properly treated wastewater can supply water, recover nutrients, and even generate energy — making it a circular economy powerhouse.

Fact: Water-sharing treaties, such as the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, have remained intact even during periods of military conflict.

Fact: In some regions, more people have access to smartphones than to safely managed drinking water or sanitation.

Fact: Women collecting water face increased risk of harassment and violence, particularly in displaced or conflict-affected settings.

Fact: Over 60% of rainfall is lost to runoff, evaporation, or immediate use — making rainwater harvesting and recharge critical in water-scarce zones.

Fact: Nitrate, arsenic, and pharmaceutical contamination are widespread, yet largely undetectable without lab testing — even in “treated” water.

Fact: While dams generate power and store water, they also disrupt ecosystems, displace millions, and reduce downstream flow — sometimes exacerbating scarcity.

Fact: Despite its essential nature, water isn’t priced in any coordinated global system — yet water rights are now traded on futures markets (e.g., California’s Nasdaq Veles Index).

Fact: Up to 60% of irrigation water is lost due to inefficient methods like flood irrigation. Precision agriculture adoption remains low in most regions.

Fact: Diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated water kill around 485,000 people annually, many of them children.

Fact: The UN formally recognised access to clean water and sanitation as a human right in 2010, but billions still lack basic access.

Fact: A litre of water weighs ~1 kg, while a litre of crude oil weighs ~0.8–0.9 kg. Bottled water is frequently more expensive than petrol in many regions.

Fact: Informal urban residents can pay 10–50 times more per litre than wealthier residents connected to public systems.

Fact: Countries like India and Brazil have abundant freshwater resources but suffer from severe water stress due to mismanagement and pollution.

Fact: Centralised urban systems can collapse rapidly under stress, as shown by Cape Town’s “Day Zero” crisis.

Fact: Countries “export” billions of litres of virtual water via food, clothing, and industrial goods.

• 1 kg beef = ~15,000 litres
• 1 cotton shirt = ~2,700 litres

Fact: The average American uses over 300 litres/day; the average German, just ~120 litres.

Fact: Up to 15% of electricity in some countries is used to extract, treat, and pump water.

Fact: Treated water may still contain PFAS, microplastics, or resistant bacteria not yet fully regulated.

Fact: Over 300 million people depend on desalinated water, but it is energy-intensive and produces toxic brine.

Fact: Most watertech patents come from Europe and North America, while the greatest need is in South Asia, Africa, and the MENA region.

Fact: Cities lose up to 30% of treated water through leaks. Globally, 346 million m³/day is lost — enough for 200 million people.

Fact: Unsafe water and poor sanitation cause more deaths annually than war, terrorism, and homicide combined.

Fact: Informal urban residents can pay 10–50 times more per litre than wealthier residents connected to public systems.

Fact: Many regions face water scarcity not due to lack of water, but because of poor management, infrastructure, and governance of water resources.

Fact: Urban areas with centralized water systems can face catastrophic water shortages when infrastructure fails or drought strikes, as seen in Cape Town’s “Day Zero” crisis.

Fact: The majority of water trade happens invisibly through the exchange of water-intensive goods like food, clothing, and electronics, rather than through direct water transfers.

Fact: Wealthier nations consume significantly more water per capita than developing countries, with the United States using nearly twice as much water per person as Germany.

Fact: 15% of total energy in developing countries is used for water systems, from extraction to treatment and distribution.

Fact: Even clear, treated water can contain invisible contaminants like PFAS, microplastics, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria that aren’t always removed by standard treatment.

Fact: While desalination provides fresh water to millions, it’s energy-intensive and produces concentrated brine that can harm marine ecosystems if not properly managed.

Fact: The majority of water technology patents are filed in water-rich developed nations, while water-scarce regions often lack access to these innovations.

Fact: An estimated 45 million cubic meters of water are lost daily through leaks in water distribution systems worldwide — enough to serve nearly 200 million people.

Fact: Waterborne disease deaths (~800,000/year) exceed the combined annual deaths from war, homicide, and terrorism worldwide.

Fact: Textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally, and a single pair of jeans can require 7,500 litres of water to produce.

Fact: Floods, droughts, and storms make up the vast majority of climate-related disasters worldwide, affecting billions and causing trillions in damages.

Fact: 21 of the world’s 37 largest aquifers are being depleted faster than they can be replenished, with some already reaching critical stress levels.

Fact: Water-scarce countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia import electricity and fuels to reduce the need for local water-intensive power generation, effectively ‘importing’ water in the form of energy.

Fact: Before the early 20th century, cholera and typhoid outbreaks were common in cities across Europe and North America due to untreated water. The introduction of chlorination in the early 1900s dramatically improved public health.

Fact: Each year, the world wastes 1.3 billion tonnes of food, which equals 250 cubic kilometres of water — more than the annual flow of the Volga River, Europe’s largest river by discharge.

Fact: Several Roman aqueducts and water systems (e.g., Pont du Gard in France) still function or have inspired modern systems over 2,000 years later, showcasing the engineering prowess of ancient Rome.

Fact: Bottled water has overtaken carbonated soft drinks in many markets and is projected to reach $500 billion in value by 2030, making it one of the fastest-growing beverage categories worldwide.

Fact: Climate change and melting ice caps are redistributing salinity in the oceans, creating new water-related climate feedback loops that could impact global weather patterns and marine ecosystems.