During its recent gathering in Davos, the World Economic Forum released its ninth annual Global Risks report, which relies on a survey of more than 700 business leaders, government officials, and nonprofit actors to identify the world’s most serious risks in the next decade. Most remarkable, four of the 10 threats listed this year are water-related.

The report fails to highlight the most pressing water-related concern: ensuring enough potable water.

The Third World Center for Water Management estimates that at least 3 billion people worldwide still drink water of dubious quality.

Similarly, China’s Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ministry reported in 2012 that while 640 of 647 cities and roughly 73 percent of counties had wastewater treatment facilities, 377 plants built in the course of one year did not meet national requirements, and that the average operating efficiency was less than 60 percent.

The world’s water and sanitation challenges are by no means insurmountable.