UN chief calls for urgent action to combat drinking water shortage

The world community needs to take action now to fight the global shortage of drinking water, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres warned on Friday as the UN Water Conference drew to a close.

"All of humanity's hopes for the future depend in some way on charting a new science based course," Guterres said on the final day of the three-day conference in New York.

"They depend on realizing the game changing inclusive and action oriented commitments made by member states and others at this conference," the UN chief added.

Over the past two days, member states, non-governmental organizations and business representatives had agreed to various, non-binding measures to combat the worldwide shortage of drinking water at the meeting co-hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan.

The UN Water Conference, which kicked off on Wednesday, was the first large UN event focusing entirely on water policy since 1977.

Ahead of the conference, the UN had sounded alarm bells, warning that the world is facing a "global water crisis" due to population growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns.

Globally, 2 billion people do not have enough safe drinking water and 3.6 billion lack access to safely managed sanitation, according to a UNESCO report released ahead of the conference.

The global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to potentially double from 930 million in 2016 to between 1.7 and 2.4 billion people, in 2050.