Lake Corpus Christi, a key water resource for the Corpus Christi area, is at just 9% of its capacity as of March 26, putting the city in a crisis so severe that, within a few months, it could be forced to impose emergency water-use restrictions to prevent taps from running dry and businesses from grinding to a halt. The situation in Corpus Christi is the result of an extremely arid climate combined with a concentration of industries that rely heavily on water, such as petrochemical plants, steel mills, gas export facilities, and oil refineries, making it one of the nation’s industrial hubs.
Indeed, 12 companies account for 55% of the city’s water use, according to Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni. Moreover, new plans for water-intensive industries—many of which were expected to depend on a desalination plant that has yet to be built—have placed the city in an especially vulnerable position. Water scarcity is a problem many of us associate with countries typically hit by drought. But as populations grow, temperatures rise, and water demand increases, water supplies start to get depleted, even in places where this was not necessarily a problem historically.
According to the United Nations, more than 2.2 billion people still lack access to safely managed drinking water, and recent research suggests that number may be as high as 4.4 billion—over half the world’s population. In fact, nearly six out of every 10 people now live in countries classified as water-insecure, where reliable, safe water is not consistently available. Water scarcity is no longer a distant concern—it’s a growing threat affecting millions each day.
Click through to explore the cities around the world that are running out of water.