Since 2008, Los Angeles, which gets a portion of its drinking water from the Colorado River, has faced long-term drought because of global warming. The river suffers from low volume and rising water temperatures. The shrinking river has raised health concerns for the 30 million people in seven states who depend on it for their water supply.
In Shanghai, China, 20 million people are at risk of facing a drinking water shortage because of rising sea levels combined with lowered water tables caused by pumping water for agricultural, public and commercial use.
For humans to survive, they need fresh water.
"The big issue with climate change is going to be population displacement," Gina Solomon, a senior scientist at NRDC, told ABC News. "We will see massive displacement on a global scale."
According to the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, climate change could become the biggest driver of human displacement.
"Displacement causes conflict, creates a lot of health stress on the people who are displaced and the people taking in the refugees," Solomon said. "It can encourage the spread of disease from one part of the world to another. As people move, they can carry diseases with them."
Check out this interactive map by the NRDC, which highlights hotspots of climate change's effects on human health.
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