In this article from The Guardian, Robin McKie discusses how water shortages will lead to the next global crisis. He discusses last year’s drought in Sao Paulo and the impact that it had on residents, starting with the story of how residents are drilling through basement floors to attempt to reach water reservoirs. Officials in Sao Paulo announced one week prior to the writing of the article that rationing of water supplies would likely be implemented soon, with limits on water access being as infrequent as two days per week. In August of 2015, the severity of the drought was deemed critical. This allowed for the suspension of agricultural and industrial permits that let companies draw water directly from local supplies. The water level in the two main reservoirs is below 20% of capacity, whereas it usually lies around 60% of capacity at the same time. Per The Guardian, similar situations are also occurring in the area extending from Pakistan through India and northern Bangladesh, Northern Africa, and the southwestern United States. Droughts like this leading to rationing of water and supplies, food shortages, increased temperature and many more issues. And because 99% of the earths water is inaccessible groundwater, unless a new way to access groundwater is developed, these widespread droughts will continue to occur.