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摘要

Although water is a universal human requirement, the use people make of it varies hugely. The average Mali-an draws 4 cubic metres a year for domestic use, the average American 215. Include all uses, and the figures range from 20 cubic metres for the average Ugandan to over 5,000 for his Turkmenistani counterpart. The statistics can be misleading: in places where rain falls copiously and evenly fromrnthe skies, withdrawals will be small. Moreover, water-blessed countries have much less reason to be careful with their resources than the water-starved. Yet high use of water is not necessarily bad. It depends how it is employed, and whether it is naturally replaced.