With water scarce in some places, in excess elsewhere, polluted or otherwise problematic, the United Nations is coming together for its first high-level conference on the issue in nearly 50 years to address the "imminent risk" of a global crisis. Water has long been overlooked despite the welfare of billions of people being at stake. "We've broken the water cycle, destroyed ecosystems and contaminated groundwater," Antonio Guterres said at the three-day summit in New York, which gathers some 6,500 participants including a dozen heads of state and government. "We are draining humanity's lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use, and evaporating it through global heating," Guterres told the conference.