  
Two of the newer trends: falling water tables and rising temperatures, are making it far more difficult for the world's farmers to feed the 76 million people we add to the planet each year.
According to, "Outgrowing the Earth" (Brown) humans drink nearly 4 quarts of water a day in one form or another, but the food we consume demands 2,000 quarts of water each day, or 500 times as much.
Agriculture is the most water-intensive sector of the economy. And without it food cannot be grown. According to The Earth Policy Institute, 70 percent of all water pumped from underground or diverted from rivers is used for agricultural irrigation. Twenty percent of all pumped water is used by industry and 10 percent goes to residences.
Water is a fragile resource.
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