Bahrain Mirror: A report issued by World Resources Institute said that nearly a quarter of the world's population living in 17 countries, including India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Libya, are facing extremely high water stress, close to "day zero".

Qatar, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, UAE, San Marino, Bahrain, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Oman and Botswana made up the top 17.

According to the report, nearly a quarter of the world's population living in 17 countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Libya, are facing extremely high water stress, close to "day zero" conditions when the taps run dry, according to a report issued by World Resources Institute.

"Agriculture, industry, and municipalities are drinking up 80% of available surface and groundwater in an average year" in the 17 worst affected countries, WRI said. These countries are: Qatar, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, UAE, San Marino, Bahrain, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Oman and Botswana.

"Water stress is the biggest crisis no one is talking about. Its consequences are in plain sight in the form of food insecurity, conflict and migration, and financial instability," said Andrew Steer, CEO of WRI.

"When demand rivals supply, even small dry shocks - which are set to increase due to climate change - can produce dire consequences" such as the recent crises in Cape Town, Sao Paulo and Chennai.

Another 27 countries comprised the "high baseline water stress" list. The World Resources Institute's Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas ranked water stress, drought risk and riverine flood risk using a peer-reviewed methodology.

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