"This overuse can lead to decreased groundwater availability for both drinking water and growing food," says Tom Gleeson, a hydro-geologist at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and lead author of the study.

A major report, Charting Our Water Future, calculates by 2030 global water demand could outstrip supply by 40%. Not only are water supplies facing pressure from food industries, but the energy industry is facing water shortage unless changes in technologies and usage happen.

The World Policy Institute has published a paper that examines convergence of the energy industry with current water usage. The findings include: that petroleum from the Canadian oil sands extracted via surface mining techniques can consume 20 times more water than conventional oil drilling. As well the paper talks about how irrigated first-generation soy- and corn-based biofuels can consume thousands of times more water than traditional oil drilling, primarily through irrigation.