Water bankruptcy is appearing on every inhabited continent, says Kaveh Madani

Kaveh Madani, director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and 2026 Stockholm Water Prize laureate, says a UN-linked report he authored shows 'water bankruptcy'—where use exceeds natural renewal and systems lose the ability to recover—is occurring across all inhabited continents, and that global freshwater is being depleted at scale.

Exiled Iranian scientist Kaveh Madani, now director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and recipient of the 2026 Stockholm Water Prize, discussed a UN-linked report he authored on global "water bankruptcy." He describes water bankruptcy as the combination of insolvency—using more water than natural recharge provides—and irreversibility, when systems lose the ability to return to historical conditions. The interview notes that human activities such as heavy groundwater pumping and river depletion are reducing freshwater resources at a scale that affects hundreds of millions. Madani also highlighted new demands on water, including energy needs linked to AI and data centers. Key points: - Madani defines "water bankruptcy" as use exceeding renewal plus loss of system recovery, creating a new normal of chronic scarcity. - The report and interview state continents are losing freshwater each year at a scale equivalent to the needs of roughly 280 million people. - Madani says signs of water bankruptcy are present on every continent where people live, with different regional manifestations of quantity or quality problems. - He emphasizes that responses should include demand control, policy reform and economic diversification alongside supply measures, and that new sectors (for example, data centers) add pressure to limited resources. Summary: Madani warns that many freshwater systems are shifting into persistent shortage and degraded conditions rather than temporary crises. He reports that addressing this requires measures beyond increasing supply, notably reducing unsustainable consumption and reforming policies, while recognizing responses will vary by location. How and when countries will adopt these measures remains undetermined at this time.