I just read this on The Telegraph (via Drudge).

Lord Stern, the World Bank’s former chief economist, said governments had been slow to accept the awful truth that usable water is running out. Fresh rainfall is not enough to refill the underground water tables.

“Water is not a renewable resource. People have been mining it without restraint because it has not been priced properly,” he said.”

Really?  Isn’t the world 97% water?  Isn’t the issue more of desalination than renewability?  I’m confused here.  Does water somehow break down spontaneously into hydrogen and oxygen atoms and then diffuse out to the atmosphere?

WTF is this dood talking about?