The impact of drought on C40 Cities by 2050

  • C40 cities will face surface water losses of more than 16.1 billion m3 a year, which is equivalent to Sydney Harbour drying up 30 times over.
  • Cities will lose 503 million m3 of water to agricultural drought, four times current levels and equivalent to 200,000 olympic swimming pools.
  • It will cost C40 cities a combined US$111 billion each year to replace the water lost from subsurface levels during drought.

Solutions for cities

  • Introduce a water conservation behaviour change programme.
  • Implement water conservation solutions to increase water availability.
  • Develop water-system efficiency improvements, such as reducing non-revenue water, to reduce water supply risks.

WATER SAFE CITIES
NARRATIVE EXPLORER