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Sustainable water management

Water is life. We can’t live without it, and it’s essential to the healthy functioning of all the world’s ecosystems. Yet one in eight people do not have access to safe drinking water. By 2025, it’s predicted that half the world’s population will live in water-stressed river basins.

Fetching water, Tanzania

Poorer people suffer the most from the mismanagement of water resources.

For example, in rural Africa, where access to clean water is limited, women and children often spend many hours every day collecting water.


Poor households are most at risk from water-borne illness. Globally, 6000 children die every day from water-related diseases.

Tribal women collect water and wash children in the evening in a village which lacks access to sanitation, Vietnam

We must:

  • provide people with clean drinking water and enough water for washing and cleaning
  • ensure there is enough water to maintain the ecosystems, such as forests, rivers and wetlands, on which their livelihoods depend
  • provide water for economic activities such as agriculture and industry, which are essential for reducing poverty

What WWF is doing
We work with local communities, government and the private sector across the world to promote joined-up approaches to water management. This involves developing sustainable water management plans, which make sure water is fairly distributed between different users – local people, the environment, agriculture and industry.

For example, we're helping communities in Tanzania work together with the government to ensure everyone gets their fair share of water along the Ruaha River.