Giving Compass' Take:

• Kate Wheeling reports that water shortages like the one in Chennai, India will become a standard part of life around the world as climate change intensifies. 

• How can funders help cities prepare for inevitable climate change? What can be done to reduce climate change? 

• Learn about the two billion people worldwide who lack water at health facilities. 

After weeks of soaring temperatures and drought, Chennai, India—the country's sixth largest city—is facing a dire water shortage. The four reservoirs that provide the majority of the city's water supply have dried up, forcing restaurants, businesses, and schools to close and leaving residents to wait in line for hours for water from municipal or private tankers.

The water crisis is hitting the region's poor particularly hard; wealthy residents can pay the premiums for water from private tankers that those living in slums can't afford.

Hundreds were arrested this week outside the municipal government's headquarters, where protesters gathered with empty water containers to blame the local authorities for mismanagement of the critical resource. The region relies on annual monsoons to replenish groundwater and reservoir supplies, but rain levels have been below average for several years, and the monsoon rains, which usually begin by June 1st, have yet to arrive. Chennai also receives some water from a desalination plant, according to Samrat Basak, the director of the World Resource Institute's Urban Water Program in India, but the plant doesn't produce enough water to supply the city's entire population.

Smaller towns in India have run out of water before, but Chennai is the first major city in the country to grapple with so severe a water shortage. India in general is facing the worst water crisis on record, according tothe National Institution for Transforming India, a government think tank, which released a report this month showing that, without drastic action, water demand in the country will exceed supply by 2030. The report found that 21 cities, including Chennai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, could run out of water as early as 2020.

Water stress is increasing all over the world, as populations boom, urban development increases, and climate change intensifies. Since the 1980s, water use has climbed by roughly 1 percent a year, according to the United Nations' World Water Development Report. The 2019 report notes that four billion people already experience severe water scarcity during at least one month every year.

Read the full article about the water shortage in Chennai, India by Kate Wheeling at Pacific Standard.