Although it may be hard to picture as Scotland is lashed by heavy rain, elsewhere water scarcity is very real and the threat of drought and death is soaring.

Recent data released by the World Resources Institute (WRI) show that 25% of the world's population are at risk of running out of water.

More than a billion people currently live in water-scarce regions, and as many as 3.5 billion could experience water scarcity by 2025, according to the WRI.

Even countries with relatively low risk of water stress could face a future with severely restricted access to water.

What does the report say?

The WRI's Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas helps businesses and governments identify and evaluate water risks around the world and its latest data has has revealed that 17 countries are facing "extremely high" water stress.

From Botswana to India to Iran, agriculture and industry are sucking up 80% of the available surface and groundwater every year, according to the report, a tool that ranks water stress, drought risk and riverine flood risk across 189 countries.

What do the findings mean?

The report says that even "small dry shocks," which the charity says will likely increase due to global heating, will produce "dire consequences."

WRI president and CEO Dr Andrew Steer said in a statement:"Water stress is the biggest crisis no one is talking about. Its consequences are in plain sight in the form of food insecurity, conflict and migration, and financial instability."

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Which countries are most at risk?

Unsurprisingly, due to their temperatures, the most water-stressed regions are the Middle East and North Africa, also known as the MENA region, and home to 12 of the 17 at-risk countries.

This region could experience the greatest economic losses from climate-related water scarcity, between 6% and 14% of GDP by 2050, the World Bank found.

Recently it was widely reported that Chennai in southeast India is in danger of running out of water, with its reservoirs drying up.

India ranks 13th on the Aqueduct list of water-stressed countries, but has more than three times the population of the other 16 countries combined, according to WRI.

Experts say that cities including London, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, Istanbul and Jakarta could be facing Day Zero - where they run out of water - in the next twenty years unless they radically revise how they use their resources.

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How real a risk is Day Zero?

Sad to say, but very, very real. Less than 1% of the world's water supply is readily available for human use - the rest is salty, frozen, dirty or trapped underground.

Around a million homes in cape Town faced their own Day Zero in April 2018, later extended to July that year.

Residents of the city collected their rations of water - the equivalent of a two minute showers worth a day per person - from centralised water centres.

Although the metropolis didn't run out of water, the supply is by no means stable and residents have had to adapt to living with drastically less water - even having to stop flushing their loos.

In 2015, Brazil's Sao Paolo was staring its own Day Zero in the eyes.

The city took action by turning off its water supply for 12 hours a day, forcing many businesses and industries to shut down.

South Africa already has 7 million people without access to water. Meeting their needs would require 33.3 billion gallons (126 billion liters) per year.

Can anything be done?

In the MENA region, more than 80% of water is not reused, so if infrastructures were built around recycling wastewater, it could generate a whole new source of clean water.

The WRI has said that at-risk countries can invest in more efficient irrigation, collect and store rainwater, and conserve and restore lakes, floodplains and groundwater recharge areas.

Countries could look to Australia who teetered on the edge of their own Day Zero during the Millennium but almost halved its domestic use.

Why is this happening?

Experts say the crisis stems from more than just droughts caused by soaring temperatures. Growing populations are degrading fresh water resources and aquatic ecosystems.

WRI found that global water withdrawals have more than doubled since the 1960s due to growing demand.

Even water-rich countries rely on other nations to provide for their needs. Research has shown that around 38% of the EU’s water consumption is reliant on water availability in other countries to grow products that it imports including rice and cotton, making these countries vulnerable to shortages.