Lloyd's took part in the IBM sponsored Global Innovation Outlook meetings on water in November 2008. As IBM state on their website: "by 2050, when the world's population is expected to peak at about 9.4 billion people, it is conceivable that water could become one of the scarcest and most valuable commodities in the world."
Water issues are one of the key global trends along with population growth and climate change which must be considered together if we are to avoid confliction "solutions".
The outcome of this global project can be seen in IBM's report which notes that every time a good is bought a "virtual exchange" of water occurs. For example, it takes 15,500 litres of water to create one kilogramme of beef. Next steps were suggested including: better use of technology to measure and monitor water data, coordinating infrastructure projects to include water, waste water and sanitation and the benefits of better consumer education about the water usage inherant in the products they buy.
The issue of water security is discussed in Lloyd's 360 Risk Insight report on climate change and security (4MB, pdf) which notes that unless water scarcity is addressed we could see political turmoil in future.
