Emerging Water Shortages‪.‬

AFRICA'S LAKE CHAD, ONCE a landmark for astronauts circling Earth, is now difficult for them to locate. Surrounded by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria--all countries with fast-growing populations--the lake has shrunk 96 percent in forty years. The region's soaring demand for irrigation water coupled with declining rainfall is draining dry the rivers and streams that feed the lake. As a result, Lake Chad may soon disappear entirely, its whereabouts a mystery to future generations. The shrinkage of Lake Chad isn't unique. The world is incurring a vast water deficit--one that is largely invisible, historically recent, and growing fast. Because the deficit comes largely from aquifer overpumping, it is often discovered only when wells go dry.