This World Water Day, 22 March, World Federation for Animals is calling for urgent global recognition of the many ways animal welfare is intrinsically connected to water security. From shifting away from intensive animal agriculture systems to safeguarding ecosystems for wildlife, protecting animal welfare goes hand in hand with protecting this finite resource.
Numerous critical water systems are already effectively ‘bankrupt’, according to a recent UN report. 2026 is a key moment for water protection. In fact, with only four years to deliver on Sustainable Development Goal 6 – ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’, there is still a long way to go. In 2024, 2.1 billion people were without safely managed drinking water, 3.4 billion without safely managed sanitation and 1.7 billion without basic hygiene services.*
Higher welfare, sustainable food systems lessen the strain on water resources
The animal agriculture industry uses 30% of the planet’s freshwater resources. This is largely due to the indirect water demands of producing animal feed for intensive livestock systems.
Excess nutrients from intensive livestock farming, particularly from fertiliser and animal waste, threaten water quality and ecosystems by fuelling harmful algal blooms that create “dead zones” and kill aquatic flora and fauna. These blooms can also contaminate drinking water with toxins that contribute to serious health risks.
An overall reduction in the overconsumption of animal-sourced foods is crucial, coupled with a transition to higher-welfare, sustainable systems including agroecology, agroforestry and integrated crop-livestock systems, which reduce the burden on precious water resources.
Improved animal welfare reduces need for antibiotics, lessening harm to human health
The use and discharge of antimicrobials into the water system is one of the most concerning sources of water pollution from chemical contaminants, contributing to the growth of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans and the environment. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified AMR as one of the top global public health threats, predicted to cause 10 million deaths by 2050.
Intensive animal agriculture and aquaculture are the third leading source of antibiotic pollution in water after medical/pharmaceutical wastewater and domestic sewage. In intensive animal agriculture, antimicrobials are used preventatively to reduce disease risk, which is heightened by overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, and also as growth promoters. Farmed terrestrial animals can excrete up to 90% of the antimicrobials they receive, which can enter waterways through surface run-off.
Improved welfare and husbandry of farmed animals reduces the unnecessary use of antimicrobials, consequently lessening the risk of contaminating waterways and naturally reducing resistance in humans.
Protecting wildlife and their habitats helps them to preserve water resources
Through natural behaviour such as building, feeding and dispersing nutrients, many wild animals act as natural ‘ecosystem’ engineers, maintaining, purifying and regulating water resources. For example, beavers are being reintroduced into the wild in parts of Europe and North America for their ability to build dams and networks of watercourses in rivers, acting as natural flood defences. In rivers, mangroves and coastal wetlands, fish and marine species sustain blue-carbon ecosystems that buffer our coasts against storms and store carbon on a vast scale, while freshwater mussels purify and filter water, improving the quality for other species.
Jessica Bridgers, Deputy CEO, World Federation for Animals comments: “Water is a thread that binds the lives of humans and animals together, and it is running out. While the UN defines access to safe water as the most basic human need, animals are equally dependent on clean water for their survival and welfare. Yet, they remain largely invisible in global water policy. In healthy ecosystems, wild animals are natural engineers of our watersheds, while farmed animals, when raised in higher-welfare systems, put much less strain on freshwater resources. Humans determine whether those ecosystems survive or collapse. By embedding animal welfare and One Health principles into water, food, and environment policy, we secure water for everyone.”
