STOCKHOLM, Aug. 21 -- Surging demand for irrigation to produce food and biofuels is likely to aggravate scarcities of water, but the world's supply is not running out, concluded an international report released Monday.
"One in three people is enduring one form or another of water scarcity," the International Water Management Institute said in the report, which was compiled by 700 experts and backed by the United Nations and farm research groups. The scarcity figures were higher than previous estimates.
"Conquering hunger and coping with an estimated 3 billion extra people by 2050 will result in an 80 percent increase in water use for agriculture" on rain-fed and irrigated lands, it added. Irrigation accounts for about 74 percent of all water used by people, compared with 18 percent for hydropower and other industrial uses and just 8 percent for households.
Many nations are also shifting to produce biofuels -- from sugar cane, corn or wood -- as a less polluting alternative to fossil fuels.
On top of food growth, that adds another level of stress, said David Molden, who led the study at the Sri Lanka-based institute.
"This leads us to a picture of a lot more water use," Molden said.
Still, the report concluded that there is enough land, water and human capacity to solve the shortages. "The big solution is to find ways to grow more food with less water. Basically, more crop per drop," Molden said. "The number one recommendation . . . is to look to improve rain-fed systems in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia."