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.

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• The Washington Post: The world has entered a new era of ‘water bankruptcy,’ U.N. report says
• New Scientist: World is entering an era of ‘water bankruptcy’
• The Conversation: Blog: The world is in water bankruptcy, UN scientists report – here’s what that means