The UN has released a new report, Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era, which argues that many of Earth’s natural water systems have been so badly destroyed that they can no longer “return to their historical conditions”. The report explains how ”societies have withdrawn more water than climate and hydrology can reliably provide”.
The report’s author, Kaveh Madani, states, “It’s not just a shortage; we’ve permanently gutted the natural systems that produce and store [water]”. Rivers, lakes, underground aquifers, wetlands, glaciers… all sources of freshwater are being used too fast for nature to keep up. We are not just using up our monthly “freshwater allowance”, but also drawing too much water out of the planet’s “water retirement fund”.
Madani also argues that words like water stress, crisis, scarcity, and shortage imply the possibility of recovery, which is now an unrealistic goal. Some water sources can still be protected, but people need to understand that many places have already reached a point of no return.
Using financial terms to describe the severity of the situation was very intentional. It is using a language that world leaders will listen to. It has been demonstrated time and time again that countries, especially the US, are willing to prioritize profits over the environment and human lives. Take the recent change to the EPA rules regarding company pollution limitations. Under the Trump administration, pollution limits are now set without considering the potential impact on human lives. Companies are literally encouraged to prioritize profits over people.
So, what does this mean for the future of AI? Is it worth spending our freshwater allowance on? AI companies obviously want you to say yes, of course. That is how they make money.
However, in an interview at the 2026 World Economic Forum, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “We, as a global community, have to get to a point where we are using [AI] to do something that changes the outcomes of people and communities and countries and industries… [or] we will quickly lose even the social permission to actually take something like energy, which is a scarce resource, and use it”. Basically, so far, on a consumer level, AI has been useless. These AI companies are worried that if they continue to underdeliver, the public will stop footing the bill for data centers.
AI is a black hole for freshwater. Individual AI data centers can use 5 million gallons of fresh water a day. That amount is equivalent to “the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people”, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
According to Madani, more than 2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water today, and 4 billion people, nearly half the global population, suffer from severe water scarcity at least one month out of the year, meaning they do not have access to enough clean water to meet all their needs.
Global water bankruptcy will impact everyone on the planet. There is no going back; we must adapt to our new reality and prioritize what is most important.
