That is good news, Steduto says, though he doesn’t downplay the problems caused by water scarcity: from crop shortage to water-borne disease to multi-year drought in places as far flung as California, the Middle East and the Amazon River basin.

He sees a unifying trend. People, on a massive scale, are reframing their relationship with water, and awareness is playing a major role.

“You can look at last year. (The U.N.’s) World Water Day was dedicated to coping with world water scarcity, so in that (the conservation events that millions of people worldwide participated in on that day) you could see the opportunities to save,” says Steduto, who has degrees in water science and water-soil relationships from the University of California in Davis.

“There is a growing awareness, and we (UN-Water) are very much trying to produce this so-called ‘footprint’ for people, in order that they realize how much water is associated withan anything you do. Your way of dressing, where you buy something (is it local or is it from across the globe), your traveling, your food style, if you drink wine, if you don’t. We’re looking at the elements - the water, the energy - that is needed for that consumption,” Steduto says.

He believes that increased consciousness about water use can fuel the demand for more water-conserving techniques and equipment - be it new agricultural techniques to use cleaned storm-water, desalination of brackish water for city sanitation/sewage systems, the burgeoning “buy-local” movement or merely turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth. As the cost of water skyrockets and droughts scorch the planet, a movement to galvanize enough people with money to act could be just around the corner.

“At first it was the gas emissions or climate change - how much you emit in driving, your carbon footprint. Now we’re doing this with water and with energy as well. The food, the grain, where is it coming from?” A few years ago, Europeans were considering a different approach to agriculture policy. “You don’t just produce food, you also maintain the environment, maintain the land, you generate some services to the community,” Seduto says. It’s just logical: pay subsidies for the community rather than waiting and trying to restore it when it’s damaged.

Beyond that, consider the food chain itself.

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