January 20, 2026

expert reaction to the UN report “Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era”

Scientists comment on a UN report: “Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era”

Prof Wouter Buytaert, Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources, Imperial College London, said:

“The report clearly highlights the severe state of water insecurity in many parts of the world.

“The report is right in pointing out that many water systems are irreversibly degraded. In this, the water cycle is no different from other natural resources such as soils and ecosystems, all of which experience widespread transgression of their planetary boundaries.

“I agree with the report that we need a long-term view on sustainable and equitable progress towards water security, instead of short-term crisis management.

“A global water bankruptcy narrative may be useful to jolt policy makers into action but risks triggering global inaction and resignation. It does not do justice to magnitude and significance of ongoing efforts, especially those occurring locally, such as the city of Quito’s water fund for source water protection, and the UK river partnerships. Documenting, championing, and replicating success stories like these can create a more engaging and solution-oriented narrative.

“Rather than a global water agenda, we need a global water assessment, ideally with measurable, quantitative indicators to track progress and diagnose problems at both the global and the local scale.

“Tracking progress needs robust data, and most of the terrestrial water cycle is still poorly monitored. Although the global trends presented in the report are clear, they mask strong regional and local differences, including areas with positive changes. We need much better data to understand and document the local context and develop sustainable solutions.

“Water security is highly dependent on the local natural, social, and cultural context. Scientists and policy makers need to get much better at understanding this context and learning from local expertise and practices. This cannot be achieved with a global agenda but needs local engagement and action.”

Dr Paul Hutchings, Associate Professor in Water, Sanitation and Health, and Associate Director of water at the University of Leeds, said:

“The report’s diagnosis of an emerging era of water bankruptcy is both timely and persuasive, and the concept itself usefully reframes global water scarcity as a systemic failure rather than a temporary crisis.

“However, translating this diagnosis into action will require resisting a return to overly holistic governance frameworks—such as Integrated Water Resource Management—that promise inclusivity but in practice often obscure accountability and delay difficult decisions about who uses water, for what, and at whose expense.

“The analysis would also benefit from greater engagement with limited public water literacy and the erosion of trust in public institutions as barriers to progress, particularly in high-consuming contexts in the Global North, where some of the largest water demands are generated but remain least visible and acknowledged.”

Prof Alan MacDonald, British Geological Survey (BGS) Head of Groundwater, said:

“There is huge variability in the state of the world’s rivers, lakes, and groundwater. Whilst the report successfully highlights all that is wrong, it misses some of the causes for hope. For example, not all regions are running out of water. In sub-Saharan Africa groundwater levels are mostly stable or rising, so concern about ‘water bankruptcy’ should not stop efforts to bring water to the estimated 400 million without access to even a basic water supply. There are also examples around the world where aquifers and rivers have recovered after periods of degradation. It’s vital that reference to bankruptcy does not lead to malaise through despair and instead acts as a catalyst for increased action.”

Dr Jonathan Paul, Associate Professor in Geoscience, Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), said:

“The new UNU-INWEH report lays bare, in unambiguous terms, humankind’s mistreatment of water as natural capital, including yawning supply-demand deficits and massive degradations in water quality across the globe.

“Taken together, these threaten the viability of ‘the water cycle’ as a concept.

“The report argues that the terms “water stress” and “water crisis” should be subordinate to a new concept of “water bankruptcy”. In my view this is overstated and too tightly linked to the specific situation in Iran, although a multitude of other areas across the globe are experiencing similarly acute water stress.

“Much of the fundamental science detailed in the report is not new and details trends that have been captured and extensively reported on over the last few decades; for instance, the use of gravity data to infer reductions in groundwater storage. The overall global distribution of water risk, moreover, is little changed compared to ten or 20 years ago.

“The elephant in the room, which is mentioned explicitly only once, is the role of massive and unequal population growth in driving so many of the manifestations of water bankruptcy: drought, spikes in polluted water supplies, and land subsidence.

“Addressing this growth would be more useful than tinkering with outdated, non-inclusive, and top-down water resource management frameworks.

“The report does shine a welcome light on the social consequences of “Global Water Bankruptcy”, and the need to address social equity when designing possible solutions.

“However, unfortunately, there is scant detail offered on these solutions, which are focus on somewhat vague policy prescriptions that lack scientific detail. For instance, “the way forward is…protecting the most vulnerable and aligning economic and political incentives with degraded hydrological realities.””

The UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health report ‘Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era’ by Mir Matin et al. was published at 18:00 UK time Tuesday 20 January 2026. 

DOI: 10.53328/INR26KMR001

Declared interests

Prof Wouter Buytaert: “Buytaert’s research is funded by UK Research and Innovation, Wellcome Trust, Schmidt Sciences, and Jacobs Futura Foundation”

Dr Jonathan Paul: “no DOIs.”

Dr Paul Hutchings: “PH is funded by the UK government Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office for research on water supply and sanitation system strengthening across six countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. He is also funded by the UK government’s National Institute for Health and Care Research to research climate resilience health systems in Asia and Africa.

Prof Alan MacDonald: Research relevant to this study has been funded by UKRI (NERC) and FCDO.

My general research has also received funding from UNICEF, World Bank, Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Government, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), WaterAid, and the UK Nuclear Waste Services. The BGS Groundwater team (who I lead) also carries out research for the UK water Industry as well as for the environmental regulators.

Former Chair of the International Association of Hydrogeologists Network for International Groundwater Development

Former member of steering group for IGRAC.  The international groundwater resources assessment centre

Contributing author of 2 chapters of the 2022 UN World Water Report: Groundwater: making the invisible visible

Visiting Professor at the University of Dundee

External Examiner for University of Edinburgh MSc in hydrogeology”

For all other experts, no response to our request for DOIs was received.