Giving Compass' Take:

• According to new preliminary research, climate change and population growth could spur water shortages across the United States. 

• What roles can philanthropists and policymakers play in taking action against climate change, specifically to address water shortages?

• Read about the risk of water shortages due to climate change, happening in England. 

The pressures of climate change and population growth could cause water shortages in most of the United States, preliminary government-backed research said on Thursday.

As many as 96 water basins out of the 204 supplying most of the country with freshwater could fail to meet monthly demand starting in 2071, a team of scientists said in the journal Earth's Future.

A water basin is a portion of land where water from rainfall flows downhill toward a river and its tributaries.

"There's a lot of the US over time that will have less water," said co-author Thomas Brown, a researcher with the U.S. Forest Service, in a phone interview.

"We'll be seeing some changes."

Water shortages would result from increased demand by a growing population, as well shrinking rainfall totals and greater evaporation caused by global warming.

One way to alleviate pressure on water basins would be to reduce irrigation for farming, the scientists said.

The agricultural sector can consume more than 75% of water in the United States, they said.

Specifically, the scientists say farmers could cut their irrigation of industrial crops used primarily for animal feed and biofuels, such as hay, field corn, soybeans, sorghum, millet, rapeseed and switchgrass.

At the present rate of warming, the world's temperatures would likely reach 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels some time between 2030 and 2052 according to a United Nations report published last year.

Read the full article about fresh water shortages due to climate change by Sebastien Malo at Global Citizen.