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Water Crisis

While the world's population tripled in the 20th century, the use of renewable water resources has grown six-fold. Within the next fifty years, the world population will increase by another 40 to 50 %. This population growth - coupled with industrialization and urbanization - will result in an increasing demand for water and will have serious consequences on the environment.

People lack drinking water and sanitation

: Photo by ADMVB bokidiawe@yahoogroupes.fr

Already there is more waste water generated and dispersed today than at any other time in the history of our planet: more than one out of six people lack access to safe drinking water, namely 1.1 billion people, and more than two out of six lack adequate sanitation, namely 2.6 billion people (Estimation for 2002, by the WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2004). 3900 children die every day from water borne diseases (WHO 2004). One must know that these figures represent only people with very poor conditions. In reality, these figures should be much higher.

Water resources are becoming scarce

Agricultural crisis

Although food security has been significantly increased in the past thirty years, water withdrawals for irrigation represent 66 % of the total withdrawals and up to 90 % in arid regions, the other 34 % being used by domestic households (10 %), industry (20 %), or evaporated from reservoirs (4 %). (Source: Shiklomanov, 1999)

As the per capita use increases due to changes in lifestyle and as population increases as well, the proportion of water for human use is increasing. This, coupled with spatial and temporal variations in water availability, means that the water to produce food for human consumption, industrial processes and all the other uses is becoming scarce.

Environmental crisis

It is all the more critical that increased water use by humans does not only reduce the amount of water available for industrial and agricultural development but has a profound effect on aquatic ecosystems and their dependent species. Environmental balances are disturbed and cannot play their regulating role anymore. (See Water and Nature)

The concept of Water Stress

Source: WaterGAP 2.0 - December 1999

Water stress results from an imbalance between water use and water resources. The water stress indicator in this map measures the proportion of water withdrawal with respect to total renewable resources. It is a criticality ratio, which implies that water stress depends on the variability of resources. Water stress causes deterioration of fresh water resources in terms of quantity (aquifer over-exploitation, dry rivers, etc.) and quality (eutrophication, organic matter pollution, saline intrusion, etc.) The value of this criticality ratio that indicates high water stress is based on expert judgment and experience (Alcamo and others, 1999). It ranges between 20 % for basins with highly variable runoff and 60 % for temperate zone basins. In this map, we take an overall value of 40 % to indicate high water stress. We see that the situation is heterogeneous over the world.

An increase in tensions

As the resource is becoming scarce, tensions among different users may intensify, both at the national and international level. Over 260 river basins are shared by two or more countries. In the absence of strong institutions and agreements, changes within a basin can lead to transboundary tensions. When major projects proceed without regional collaboration, they can become a point of conflicts, heightening regional instability. The Parana La Plata, the Aral Sea, the Jordan and the Danube may serve as examples. Due to the pressure on the Aral Sea, half of its superficy has disappeared, representing 2/3 of its volume. 36 000 km² of marin grounds are now recovered by salt.

Towards a way to impove the situation

"There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water so badly that billions of people - and the environment - suffer badly." World Water Vision Report

With the current state of affairs, correcting measures still can be taken to avoid the crisis to be worsening. There is a increasing awareness that our freshwater resources are limited and need to be protected both in terms of quantity and quality. This water challenge affects not only the water community, but also decision-makers and every human being. "Water is everybody's business" was one the the key messages of the 2^nd World Water Forum.

Saving water resources

Whatever the use of freshwater (agriculture, industry, domestic use), huge saving of water and improving of water management is possible. Almost everywhere, water is wasted, and as long as people are not facing water scarcity, they believe access to water is an obvious and natural thing. With urbanization and changes in lifestyle, water consumption is bound to increase. However, changes in food habits, for example, may reduce the problem, knowing that growing 1kg of potatoes requires only 100 litres of water, whereas 1 kg of beef requires 13 000 litres.

Improving drinking water supply

Water should be recognized as a great priority. One of the main objectives of the World Water Council is to increase awareness of the water issue. Decision-makers at all levels must be implicated. One of the Millenium Development Goals is to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation. To that aim, several measures should be taken:

guarantee the right to water;
decentralise the responsibility for water;
develop know-how at the local level;
increase and improve financing;
evaluate and monitor water resources.

Improving transboundary cooperation

As far as transboundary conflicts are concerned, regional economic developement and cultural preservation can all be strengthened by states cooperating of water. Instead of a trend towards war, water management can be viewed as a trend towards cooperation and peace. Many initiatives are launched to avoid crises. Institutional commitments like in the Senegal River are created. In 2001, Unesco and Grenn Cross International have joined forces in response to the growing threat of conflicts linked to water. They launched the joint From Potential Conflicts to Co-Operation Potential programme to promote peace in the use of transboundary watercourses by addressing conflicts and fostering co-operation among states and stakeholders.

More about this program: www.gci.ch/en/programs/natural_02.htm

www.unesco.org/water/wwap/pccp

Water and Nature

" More than one-half of the world’s major rivers are being seriously depleted and polluted, degrading and poisoning the surrounding ecosystems, thus threatening the health and livelihood of people who depend upon them for irrigation, drinking and industrial water. "

World Commission on Water for the 21st century.

What are the interactions between water and nature?

Water is life and is necessary for all ecosystems. Sound ecosystems ensure balanced communities of species and rich livelihoods. Rich and diverse livelihoods are fundamental for our well-being and for the survival of the poorest. Currently, around 1,9 million species are described in the world and million of others are still to discover (Source:IUCN).

Our meals, our health and our livelihoods depend on biodiversity. Food resources from agriculture or fisheries, the diversity of medicinal herbs, water-consuming industries, or tourist activities developed next to lakes and rivers demonstrate that water resources are vital to nature and Human. In addition, nature plays a role of regulation and purification of water resources, thus contributing to better water supply and quality.

Regulating the water flows:

Some ecosystems such as wetlands or forests have strong water retention capacities. Water penetrates into these ecosystems, is stored, then restored. During wet periods, these ecosystems contribute to peak flow mitigation. During dry seasons, water is progressively released, which maintains a base-flow . Hence the necessity of preserving these zones.

Improving water quality:

When polluted water percolates into the soil, it is naturally filtered. This treats a certain amount of pollutants, which will not need human treatment afterwards. Wetlands and forests are particularly useful for this purpose.

Preserving ecosystems presents interests of ethical, social and economical nature. Experts from the European Union estimate the financial value of goods and services provided by ecosystems at more than 26 000 billion euros per year, namely almost twice the value of what Human beings produce every year.

What are the current threats on this equilibrium between water and nature?

Growth in human populations, increasing consumption, infrastructure development, land conversion, poor land use and massive use of pollutants in water all threaten the ecosystem functions that produce our freshwater resources. Ecosystems evolve far too slow to adapt to quick and brutal changes, and cannot play their purifying and regulating role anymore.

· Pollution: With urbanization and industrialization, the quality of rivers, lakes, and aquifers may deteriorate seriously. This phenomenon has accelerated since 1970’s, due to the increase of human and industrial waste. With current water treatment systems, eliminating some toxic particles is sometimes not possible anymore. Surface water as well as groundwater run the risk to be neither proper to human consumption, nor to ecosystems.

· Biodiversity under threat: Today, a growing number of species and habitats are disappearing. According to the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, a total of 15,589 species of plants and animals are threatened, facing a high risk of extinction in the near future, in almost all cases as a result of human activities. Since the beginning of the century, 50 % of wetlands have disappeared. Since 1990’s, deforestation concerns 19,4 million ha each year.

· Water scarcity: Water resources depletion generates tensions among water users and sometimes between states or countries. Every country wants to maintain sovereignty on its resources and to maximise its storage and withdrawals. Water scarcity already affects one third of the total world population (World Water Vision)

· Flood and drought risks: Ecosystems degradation, especially in wetlands or in the upstream patch of catchments, reduces their role on flood or drought mitigation.

What kind of measures could mitigate these impacts?

First, simple everyday gestures can reduce the phenomena threatening water resources. All actors from the water sector should get involved, namely farmers, industrials, but also individuals. A responsible water-saving behaviour, a reduction in pollutants in agriculture can slow down the disappearance of water resources and the changes in ecosystems.

Collective measures should also be enforced. Spaces arrangements and water resources use should be taken in hand. Regulating natural river flows, carrying out soft changes and adapting water consumption to its availability may have much more sustainable and efficient effects than increasing the pressure on the resource, leading to short-term solutions. A effective cooperation should exist among actors, to ensure a consistent and environment-friendly water management.