Water on Earth moves continually through the water cycle of evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration), condensation, precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the sea. Evaporation and transpiration contribute to the precipitation over land. Large amounts of water are also chemically combined or adsorbed in hydrated minerals.
Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other lifeforms even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. Access to safe drinking water has improved over the last decades in almost every part of the world, but approximately one billion people still lack access to safe water and over 2.5 billion lack access to adequate sanitation.
There is a clear correlation between access to safe water and gross domestic product per capita.[6] However, some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world population will be facing water-based vulnerability.
A report, issued in November 2009, suggests that by 2030, in some developing regions of the world, water demand will exceed supply by 50%.