Cities hold more than half of the world’s population. As urbanization continues, demands for freshwater increase. To find adequate supplies of water to meet urban needs, some cities must create infrastructure to collect, transport and store water from distant locations.  However, inter-basin transfers can displace and/or obscure the effects of over-exploitation if regional water management strategies are not in place to monitor supply basin health.

GFI’s on-going global research is aimed at identifying supply basins tapped by multiple urban and agricultural areas. We then assess their vulnerability and predict where continued urbanization and agricultural expansion may put supply basins at risk, and provide insight into policies and solutions to reduce susceptibility.