Humanity uses a little leas than half the water available worldwide. Yet occurrences of shortages and droughts are causing famine in some areas, but industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water supplies. (1)______ Since the world’s population is expecting to double in the next 50 years, (2)______ many experts think we are on the edge of a widespread water crisis. But that doesn’t have to be the outcome. Water shortages do not have to trouble the world—if we started valuing water more than we (3)______ have in the past. Just like we began to appreciate petroleum more after (4)______ the 1970s oil crisis, today we must start looking at water from a fresh economical perspective. We can no longer afford to consider water a (5)______ virtual free resource of which we can use as much as we like. (6)______ Instead, for all uses except the domestic demand of the poor, governments should price water to reflect their actual value. This means (7)______ charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the demand costs. (8) Governments should also protect this resource by providing water with more economically and environmentally sound ways. (9)______ Often the cheapest way to provide irrigation water in the dry tropics is through small-scaled projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions (10)______ and pumping it to nearby cropland.