Financial Tribune - One key point on which there is a global consensus is that come what may demand for water MUST be lowered and efficient use be made of water technology

As access to water becomes a herculean task in countries big and small, an increasing number of regions worldwide are facing a looming crisis that has become a serious cause of concern threatening livelihoods from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

Prominent research institutions say roughly half the world's projected 9.7 billion people will live in water-stressed regions by 2050.

The World Resources Institute has a list it calls �Extremely High Baseline Water Stress� in which 17 countries are named. In this ranking of the most water stressed countries Iran is in the top four after Qatar, Israel and Lebanon.

Pretty disturbing news for water managers and urban planners living comfortably in glass houses in Tehran!

So far so bad for Iran and its 83 million population that many respected economists say have gotten into the bad habit of over-consuming everything, not the least water, electricity, gas, gasoline�One just needs to look at the trash bins to see how much food is wasted despite the long difficult times.