• 1996 is likely to be the second-driest year in Mexico's history, surpassed only by 1953. Mexico's reservoirs are filled well below capacity, with most holding only one-third of their total storage possibilities.
• Many freshwater resources are shared by two or more countries. At least 214 river basins are multinational: of these, 155 are shared between two countries, 36 among three countries and the remaining 23 among 4 to 12 countries. An estimated 35 to 40 percent of the world population ives within shared river basins.
• Demand for water varies greatly by country, with industrialized and developing nations showing marked differences. For example, the average per capita domestic use of water in the United States is more than 70 times that in Ghana.
• Worldwide, agriculture consumes about 65 percent of all fresh water used for human activities, compared with 25 percent for industry and 10 percent for households. It takes about 1,000 tons of water to produce a ton of harvested grain.
• Farmers who have switched from nacec.furrow or sprinkler irrigation to efficient drip systems have cut their water use by 30 to 60 percent. A Colorado-based enterprise is testing a drip system in India that costs just $50 per half-acre, about one-tenth the cost of drip systems currently in use. Water savings in agriculture can free up substantial quantities of water for cities and the environment.
• The High Plains Water District, which covers 2.7 million hectares in Texas, offers irrigators low-interest loans for the purchase of equipment to improve irrigation efficiency. As of October 1995, cumulative water savings from nacec.the program totaled nearly 192 million cubic meters, enough to supply a city of roughly 700,000 people for a year.

Sources: United Nations Environment Program, Mexico's National Water Commission, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.