Water shortage.

The scarcity of water is considered as a global problem. Climate change and scarcity put pressure on water resources. The number of the world’s population facing water scarcity continues to rise and the recent studies revealed that 66% of people live without sufficient access to non-polluted water for at least one month a year, which means that more than 4 billion people are directly affected. Although developed countries feel not directly concerned by the water crisis, the issue is even more acute in developing countries to date. In some countries, water is overused whereas others do not have any access to fresh water. The fact is that people consume twice as much resources as available. However, the crisis is still a considerable issue, which will affect the whole world in the future. Indeed, fresh water is essential for good health and its lack will continue to affect more and more people and become a major risk for the global economy such as crop failure, limited food availability, etc. According to Jean Chrétien, the risk of such a situation in the future is that this “will not sustain humanity”.

Water’s centrality invokes security for health and sustainability. The government as well as individuals are engaged in the issue concerning water. The UN Global Compact established the CEO Water Mandate to mobilize business leaders to advance water stewardship, sanitation, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Probably every manufactured product uses water during some part of the production process. Most of the companies decentralize their production in countries such as India, China and Africa while these countries are facing a water shortage. Thus, the private sector has the responsibility to encourage and facilitate sustainability, measuring their water use and impact. Companies invest in new technologies and adopt a greener corporate culture for example in communicating to the public water footprint, which expresses their commitment to the environment and ensures their future success.

Through this mandate, companies can appear involved in solving water crisis while their production still diminish the volumes of water availability. Lots of agencies present the water crisis solution as an uncomplicated and cheap project in their marketing campaigns, this led to a controversy. They use strong images of happy children drinking water thanks to the funds raised to show people how their engagement has been efficient. However, the reality is different. To be efficient, they have to supply permanently adequate and good quality water pumps, then, provide the maintenance.

...