United Nations Development Programme - UNDP: "The prospect for sustainable development looks bleak if we are not able to develop and manage our increasingly scarce water resources in a sound and effective manner. The pollution of and competition for increasingly precious water resources have intensified dramatically over the past decades, reaching a point where water shortages, water quality degradation and aquatic ecosystem destruction are seriously affecting prospects for economic and social development, political stability, as well as ecosystem integrity."

World Meteorological Organization - WMO: "Human health and social development depend on freshwater supplies being adequate in both quantity and quality for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. If we consider that world-wide about 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and that contaminated drinking water and inadequate water supplies account for 10% of all disease in developing countries, it is clear that much remains to be done. One requirement is to identify adequate supplies of potable water."