U.N. report predicts worsening freshwater supplies

Population growth, climate change and demand for greater food and energy supplies are squeezing global water supplies, according to a new U.N. report.

Water problems are often worst in developing countries, where water availability and prosperity are closely linked, says the report produced by 24 U.N. agencies and scheduled for official release tomorrow.

The report warns that mismanagement of water supplies has created problems that are “enormous … but not insurmountable” — if major policy shifts are made.

“Water is linked to the crises of climate change, energy and food supplies and prices, and troubled financial markets,” the report says. “Unless their links with water are addressed and water crises around the world are resolved, these other crises may intensify and local water crises may worsen, converging into a global water crisis and leading to political insecurity and conflict at various levels.”

A major factor affecting water availability is a surging global population, which the United Nations says could swell from 6.7 billion in 2008 to 9 billion by 2050.

And more and more of those people are living in urban areas, with much of that shift occuring in the poorest countries. That forces governments to rely on rivers and aquifers polluted by growing human settlements.

“Coping with a future without reliable water resource systems is now a real prospect in parts of the world,” the report warns.

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Source: The New York Times

With increasing water needs, will China dehydrate India?

China—and not Pakistan—is a bigger threat to India simply because it does not have enough water.
Unlike India, which has 9.56% of its surface area covered with water, China has just 2.8%. This did not matter in the past. China’s land mass is so huge that, despite its larger population, it has one-sixth the density of people per km compared with India.

But water consumption increases exponentially with industrialization. Power plants, chemical factories, mining, steel and urban sanitation require huge quantities of water. Hence, China’s water needs have increased dramatically.

That could be one reason why annexing Tibet was crucial to China’s plans. It now controls 1,700km of the Yarlung Zangbo river, the Tibetan part of the Brahmaputra. The remaining 2,900km of the river winds into India through Arunachal Pradesh, and then, through Bangladesh. That, say experts, could be one more reason behind China eyeing parts of Arunachal Pradesh.

More worrisome is the fact that China has already completed feasibility studies for a major hydropower dam at the Tsongpo gorge to generate at least 40,000MW a year, more than twice the output of Three Gorges hydroelectric project. Construction is expected to start this year and the residual waters are expected to be diverted to China’s lands. It would starve India and Bangladesh of their share of the river’s waters.

Moreover, with Left parties winning Nepal’s elections, and China’s proposal last week for no-visa travel between Nepal and China, there are fears that the waters which flow into the Ganga (primarily Kosi), too, may get diverted, because many of India’s northern rivers begin in Nepal. That could parch northern India.

At risk will be India’s agriculture and hydroelectric dams on these rivers. It could revive the saying that the next wars will be fought for water, not land.

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Source: LiveMint.com

California: Let’s all get wet

As I write these words, rain is hammering my apartment building and rivers of fresh water — hundreds or perhaps thousands of gallons per minute — are gushing down the streets and the sidewalks, filling rain gutters, overwhelming the storm drains and rinsing the City relatively clean, and you think, ahh yes, rain, bring it on, so healthy, so good, so desperately needed.

Maybe you also think: Surely all that water is going somewhere helpful, yes? Surely at least some of those drains feed into some grand network of reservoirs and tanks that, in turn, replenish the supply and nourish the community and come back through our taps and get recycled for irrigation, and it’s all glorious and helpful, right?

Wrong.

Truth is, the vast majority of that glorious water is merely flushed away by a system of conduits and drainage pipes and sent straight out into the bay, all in an effort to avoid urban flooding because, well, we are simply not equipped to handle too much of it at once.

Meanwhile, I read the same dire stories as you. Despite the rain, despite weeks of snow and storms and pounding amounts of water crashing down on the region for hours on end, we are still in very serious drought conditions. Long-starved state reservoirs aren’t even half full. The governor declared a state of emergency. The Colorado River is long overtaxed, lakes are drying up, the besieged Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta is being siphoned off at a record pace. We do not, they say, have nearly enough water. And it’s getting worse.

It seems to prompt one ridiculously obvious, but still increasingly urgent question: How can this be? How is it that tens of thousands of gallons of fresh water are pouring through the city streets right now, but we are only able to capture and use but a fraction? Why do we not have better systems in place? Why is this not more imperative?

Is that too naïve to ponder aloud? Hardly. Sure, we all know the state has its grand reservoirs, the spring snowmelt is the lifeblood of the aquifers, the rainfall feeds the starving, overbled rivers and deltas. But what about what’s right here, right now? What about what every single city, every single person, every single household isn’t doing in the slightest?

Why do we not, for example, have in place regulations similar to what much of drought-plagued Australia’s already done, mandates requiring that every homeowner cut their usage in half and every home and building be fitted with a basic water-capture and storage apparatus — along with solar panels and compost and so on — aiming toward at least some semblance of self-sustainability? How is it we are still stuck with the archaic, centralized models of water and energy supply that, unless we start changing it fast, will likely spell California’s doom?

I know: simple questions. Simplistic, even. But as we get more desperate, we sure as hell don’t seem to have very many satisfying answers.

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Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Two-Thirds of the World to Face Water Scarcity by 2025: UN

New York (PTI): The United Nations warned that two-thirds of the world’s population will face a lack of water in less than 20 years if current trends in climate change, population growth, rural to urban migration and consumption continue.

Speaking at a high-level symposium on water security here on Thursday, UN Dy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro stressed that “if present trends continue, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with water scarcity by 2025, and two-thirds of the world population could be subject to water stress.”

“The lack of safe water and sanitation is inextricably linked with poverty and malnutrition, particularly among the world’s poor,” Migiro said at the two-day meeting organised by the World Water Organisation (WWO).

“It limits girls’ school attendance and exacerbates maternal mortality. Yet today about 900 million people still rely on unimproved drinking-water supplies, and 2.5 billion people remain without improved sanitation facilities,” she added.

Unless urgent action is taken the conflict between water supply and demand is set to get worse, Migiro told the symposium’s participants, comprising of experts from the UN, Member States, as well as corporate, medical, scientific, academic and non-government organisations.

Migiro noted that agriculture consumes roughly three quarters of the world’s fresh water supplies and in Africa the proportion is closer to ninety per cent.

“More than 1.4 billion people live in river basins where their use of water exceeds minimum recharge levels, leading to desiccation of rivers and the depletion of groundwater, she said.

The Deputy Secretary-General stressed that achieving water security would mean more effective water management, including enhancing food security through more equitable allocation of water for agriculture and food production. “It means ensuring the integrity of ecosystems, and it means promoting peaceful collaboration in the sharing of water resources, particularly in the case of boundary and trans-boundary water resources.”

“In establishing the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one half, by 2015, the number of people without access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, the United Nations has challenged the international community to work together to improve such conditions,” she said.

The symposium aims to identify specific threats and vulnerabilities to global water security and propose practical solutions for the protection and preservation of water supplies.

Source: The Hindu

New push on water scarcity accounting

Calpers, the California public employees pension fund, has called for US corporations to improve their reporting of the business risks posed by climate change-related water-scarcity.

Anne Stausboll, the recently-appointed chief executive of Calpers, on Thursday welcomed a new report that calls on companies to measure their water “footprint” in the way that some are now meauring their greenhouse gas impact, and to take steps to address and measure potential risks.

“Some companies are becoming transparent about reporting on water, but the marjority are not reporting on water risk,” she said. “We think this report is a really important step in highlighting” the issue.

The report, produced by the Pacific Institute and funded by Ceres, a group backed by investor and environmental groups, argues that many companies, from energy producers to clothing and computer brans, are failing to account for their dependence on raw materials whose costs can be affected by water shortages and political decisions.

It cites the example of Dell and Hewlett-Packard, which it says fail to acknowlege their exposure to water risk in regulatory filings, despite the heavy consumption of water in the manufacturing of semi-conductors.

In the garment industry, it argues that no companies are properly assessing the dependence of cotton production on heavy use of irrigation, and highlights the costto water suppliers posed by the recent boom in the exploitation of Canadian tar sands.

Several Wall Street research firms have also issued reports in recent months highlighting water risk, with a JP Morgan analyst saying in March last yeat that “these risks are difficult for investors to assess, due both to poor information about the underlying supply conditions and to fragmentary or inadequate reporting by individual companies.”

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Source: Financial Times

Bahrain: Water crisis ‘a security threat’

BAHRAIN and its neighbours could face a potential security crisis unless they take steps to protect their diminishing water resources, a government official warned yesterday.

There could be serious threat if the region does nothing to ensure there is enough water to go round, said Works Minister Fahmi Al Jowder, who is also in charge of the Electricity and Water Authority.

His warning echoed an alert raised last week by Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry Under-Secretary Dr Ahmed Mohammed Al Salem, who said a water shortage could spark war in the region.

The struggle for limited resources amid growing demand and rising population levels is likely to end in conflict, Mr Al Salem told the Bahrain Security Forum, at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa.

“Thirty per cent (of the population) in the year 2025 will not find water for drinking or agriculture,” he said.

“What further complicates the situation is that 60pc of the Arab water resources come from outside our homelands.

“This no doubt is a sign of a potential war that could take place in this region as a result of the struggle and strife for its resources.”

Mr Al Jowder was speaking at the opening of the Innovative Water and Wastewater Reuse Technolog-ies conference.

Failure to act could have disastrous consequences for the region’s security, he said.

“We have to work on several fronts to try and manage the demand,” said Mr Al Jowder.

“Management of demand is an issue and we should work on (reducing) leaks from our network.”

Experts from around the world are attending the two-day event, being held at the Gulf Hotel’s Gulf Convention Centre.

It is being organised by the Saudi Arabia Water Environment Association (SAWEA), US-based Water Environment Federation and US-based International Desalination Association.

An exhibition on the sidelines of the event is also showcasing the latest innovations and technologies in water production and conservation systems.

The conference continues today with a series of technical sessions about desalination and sanitary wastewater treatment.

Mr Al Jowder called for campaigns to educate the public on how to avoid wasting water.

“We have to work on awareness programmes,” he said.

“We are not doing enough to educate the young generation, consumers and investors.”

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Source: Gulf Daily News

Link Between Climate Change & Water Scarcity

Global climate change is exacerbating water scarcity problems around the world, yet few businesses and investors are paying attention to this growing financial threat, according to the report Water Scarcity & Climate Change: Growing Risks for Businesses and Investors issued by Ceres and the Pacific Institute.

Water drives every industry from agriculture to electric power to silicon chip manufacturing. Beverage, apparel and tourism also rely on supplies of clean, potable water.

Decreasing water availability, declining water quality, and growing water demand are creating immense challenges to businesses and investors who have historically taken clean, reliable and inexpensive water for granted. These trends are causing decreases in companies’ water allotments for manufacturing, shifts towards full-cost water pricing, more stringent water quality regulations and increased public scrutiny of corporate water practices.

Climate change will exacerbate these growing water risks – especially as the world population grows by 50 million people every year. Already, China, India and the western U.S. are seeing growth limited by reduced water supplies from shrinking glaciers and melting snowcaps that sustain key rivers.

Meanwhile, agricultural and power plant production have been cut back due to more frequent and more intense heat waves and droughts in large parts of Australia, California and the southeast U.S.

“The business community needs to wake up to the reality that water is becoming scarcer and will likely become even more so in many parts of the world due to climate change,” says Mindy  Lubber, president of Ceres.”

“For businesses, addressing risk factors of water scarcity and conflict is as urgent as addressing energy security and greenhouse gas emissions,” says Jason Morrison, program director at the Pacific Institute and the report’s lead author.

The report identifies water-related risks specific to 8 key industries, including:

• Electric Power: Drought-induced water shortages have already caused power plant shutdowns in Europe, Brazil and the southeast U.S. that led to price spikes and reduced economic growth. The power industry depends heavily on water and accounts for a staggering 39% of freshwater withdrawals in the U.S.
• High-Tech: 11 of the world’s 14 largest semiconductor factories are in the Asia-Pacific region, where water scarcity risks are especially severe. IT firms require vast amounts of ultra clean water – Intel and Texas Instruments alone used 11 billion gallons to make silicon chips in 2007. A water-related shutdown at a fabrication facility operated by these firms could result in $100-$200 million in missed revenue during a quarter, or $0.02 or $0.04 per share.
• Beverage: Coca-Cola and PepsiCo bottlers lost their operating licenses in parts of India due to water shortages and all major beverage firms are facing stiff public opposition to new bottling plants – and to buying bottled drinking water altogether. Nestlé Waters has been fighting for five years, for example, to build the country’s largest bottling plant in McCloud, CA.
• Agriculture: Reduced water availability is already impacting food commodity prices, as shown by last year’s sharp increase in global rice prices triggered by a drought-induced collapse of rice production in Australia. Roughly 70% of the water used globally is for agriculture, with as much as 90% in developing countries where populations are growing fastest.

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Source: Sustainable Business

Why Water Could be Worth Fighting For

Over one billion people – 18% of the world’s population – lack access to safe drinking water worldwide. Only 56% of Africa’s 800 million population have access to clean water. About 700 million people in 43 countries are affected by water scarcity, according to the UN.

In another few years – in 2025 to be precise – the number could swell to 3 billion driving back gains in the fight against poverty and under-development, otherwise known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

For many people around the world, safe drinking water is a scarce resource and out of necessity, they resort to what’s available – polluted water.

But contaminated water isn’t just dirty—it’s deadly. Some 1.8 million people die every year of diseases like cholera, caused by poor sanitation. Tens of millions of others are seriously sickened by a host of water-related ailments—many of which are easily preventable.

A child dies of a water-related illness every 15 seconds. This translates to 2 million children dying each year due to a lack of clean water and inadequate sanitation, a situation that can be changed by just providing access to clean water and sanitation. If this was done, it would reduce the risk of a child dying by as much as 50%.

Africa is one continent caught squarely in the middle of potential conflicts over this precious commodity among other scarce resources. Africa has two of the world’s longest rivers – the 6,400-kilometer Nile River and the 4,370-kilometer Congo River, but it suffers from a perennial shortage amidst potentially plentiful supplies. It also has 21 of the world’s most arid countries, in terms of water per person.

Water scarcity is defined as less than 1,000 m3 of water available per person per year, while water stress means less than 1,500 m3 of water available per person per year.

According to a 1999 UN Development Program report, the possible African ‘water wars’ flash points are the Nile, Niger, Volta and Zambezi basins. The report says that by 2025, another 12 African countries will join the 13 that already suffer from water stress or water scarcity.

Yet UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, admits that the state of the world’s waters remained fragile, with the need for an integrated and sustainable approach to water resource management pressing as ever.

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Source: Eco Worldly

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