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By:
Usman Ali
Special Correspondent Pride News
The Safe Drinking water Crisis: are we going towards the end
For years, water issues have revolved around the resource being too scarce, too abundant or too polluted. 2022 may be the year when we finally start talking about water extreme events being too frequent as well. From droughts to floods to cities with boil water notice, the intervals between events continue to shrink as climate change advances.
2022 may also prove to be a year of change for water. Significant legal and policy shifts are underway that should be on everyone’s watch list.
2.2 billion People living without access to safe water. What this means is in 2020, around 1 in 4 people lacked safely managed drinking water in their homes and nearly half the world’s population lacked safely managed sanitation. if current trends persist, billions of children and families will be left without critical, life-saving WASH services. Further stating that by 2030 only 67 per cent of people globally will have safe sanitation services, leaving out about 2.8 billion.
Industry adds to world’s mounting water crisis Half of all river basins across the world are now “severely affected” by water diversion
projects, which can exacerbate drought conditions and lead to human conflict, the report
says. About the same percentage of lakes and reservoirs in Asia, Europe and North
America also show eutrophication, an excess of nutrients that can lead to algae blooms
and ecosystem collapse.
While many such problems are tied directly to nearby human activity, global climate
change is also acting as a “threat multiplier,” the report says. Increasing air temperatures
are melting ice sheets and glaciers, exacerbating droughts and otherwise throwing off
water cycles that human populations rely upon for drinking water, agriculture and even
powering their homes.
Last year, a hydropower plant on California’s Lake Oroville had to shut down for the first
time since its opening in 1967 because of low reservoir levels, the report says. Elsewhere
in the state, millions of acres of crop land have gone unplanted in recent years because of
groundwater depletion.
The heavy withdrawal of groundwater in India, which uses more than any other country,
has led to decreases in yields of wheat, rice and maize, and they could fall by 68% in
some regions by 2025.
In Chile and China, the mining of metals like lithium for next-generation batteries to power
electric cars requires up to 56% more water than what was used for traditional batteries,
stressing local groundwater supplies. Meanwhile, the recycling of lead-acid batteries in
Southeast Asia, Africa and Central and South America is contaminating water suppliesand putting almost 1 million people at high risk of lead pollution, the report says.
Humans have long believed water supplies limitless and relied on dilution to resolve
pollution market-based solutions to the problem by encouraging investors to pressure
companies into thinking about how they affect water supplies and pollution and whether
their practices are sustainable.
“Industry—from food production to mining, apparel manufacturing to high-tech—
collectively is the single largest user and influencer of water resources. food and
beverage companies alone could face a $200 billion impact from water scarcity and
pollution risks. Another estimate analyzing 3,000 companies across multiple sectors cited
by Ceres pegged the financial risk at $300 billion if dangers are not mitigated.
Activities at risk can include operations—water shortages could hinder the extraction of
$50 billion in mining materials by 2030—as well as recreation, such as an estimated $2.2
billion in lost tourism dollars in the U.S. each year because of toxic algae blooms along
lakes and coastlines. By reusing water, implementing smarter management of crops and
lands, and developing new technologies and materials, companies can mitigate the
damage. Seven key sectors that can cause water shortages and pollution: food
production, consumer goods, energy generation, health care, materials, technology and
utilities.
But agriculture plays the largest role in water use, accounting for about 70% of worldwide
consumption, the report notes, while all other industrial sectors account for about 19%.
Within food production, crop irrigation requires the most water and is leading aquifers to
dry out. A 2019 study cited in the report estimates that by 2050, 42% to 79% of
watersheds where groundwater is pumped “could surpass ecological tipping points
without better water management.”
Agriculture also plays a leading role in the pollution of water. Excess nutrients from
fertilizers and manure run into waterways, leading to algae blooms and decreased
oxygen levels that can create ecological “dead zones” in rivers, lakes and oceans.
But other industries such as plastics and health care are also polluting water supplies and
accumulating in the food chain, ultimately reaching humans and risking toxic health
effects.
Fourteen million tons of plastics are now reaching the oceans each year, the equivalent of
eight garbage bags full of trash for every foot of coastline worldwide. Medicines passing
through human waste and the use of antibiotics for agriculture have increased
pharmaceutical-related water risks ten- to twentyfold over the past several decades, the
report says, increasing the likelihood of new antibiotic-resistant bacteria and harming
human reproduction.
How water resources are divvied up and managed can also exacerbate natural drought
and flood conditions. That, in turn, can lead to supply chain disruptions that ripple across
the globe. Groundwater is different from surface water in that it is often accessed by households and
communities themselves, based on own investments in digging wells or drilling to reach it.
But for the most part, those end-users are not aware of how, for instance, the water cycle
and climate change impact on the resource base they depend on. Such insights are crucial
to translate into governance and management decisions when we talk about the need to
increase provisions of safe drinking water for local communities.
From a human rights perspective, the State has a duty to respect the freedom of
households practicing self-supply to provide for themselves using groundwater sources.
Governments should also protect end-users from negative impacts caused by companies
and other non-State actors on groundwater.
The human rights-based approach is key to ensure equitable governance and
management of groundwater and aquifers, and to ensure that water allocations are
prioritized for fulfilling the rights to water, food, and a healthy environment. The approach
calls for application of the good governance principles of participation, inclusion,
transparency, accountability, and non-discrimination. In relation to groundwater resources,
this has implications for the State’s role concerning, for instance, point source protection
and measures for aquifer recharge, and to protect groundwater and aquifers upstream of
water services delivery points.
Over the course of several months in 2021, the report says, extreme flooding in China cut
off coal deliveries and led to widespread power outages, mudslides in Europe disrupted
rail traffic essential for steelmaking, and Taiwan’s worst drought in 50 years deepened a
shortage of semiconductors used across the world.
An economic report released by the Biden administration this week warned that such
“climate-induced weather emergencies” will continue to disrupt supply chains even as the
world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As networks become more connected, and climate change worsens, the frequency and
size of supply-chain-related disasters rises,” the administration said. Once problems are
identified, companies should then work to mitigate harms by creating tangible targets and implementing solutions to obtain them, such as reusing water, using safer chemical
alternatives, investing in public work projects for nearby communities, and working with
suppliers to further reduce their water footprint. Water covers 70% of our planet, and it is
easy to think that it will always be plentiful. However, freshwater—the stuff we drink,
bathe in, irrigate our farm fields with—is incredibly rare. Only 3% of the world’s water is
fresh water, and two-thirds of that is tucked away in frozen glaciers or otherwise
unavailable for our use.
As a result, some 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7
billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year. Inadequate sanitation is also a
problem for 2.4 billion people—they are exposed to diseases, such as cholera and
typhoid fever, and other water-borne illnesses. Two million people, mostly children, die
each year from diarrheal diseases alone.
Many of the water systems that keep ecosystems thriving and feed a growing human
population have become stressed. Rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or becoming
too polluted to use. More than half the world’s wetlands have disappeared. Agriculture
consumes more water than any other source and wastes much of that through
inefficiencies. Climate change is altering patterns of weather and water around the world,
causing shortages and droughts in some areas and floods in others.
At the current consumption rate, this situation will only get worse. By 2025, two-thirds of
the world’s population may face water shortages. And ecosystems around the world will
suffer even more.
Educate
to
change
consumption
and
lifestyles
In the end, changing the face of this crisis involves education to motivate new behaviors.
Coping with the coming era of water scarcity will require major overhaul of all forms of
consumption, from individual use to the supply chains of major corporations, like GE.
Some regions led by India, Australia and the Southwest U.S., are already facing the
freshwater crisis. The most critical task is making sure the problem is much better
understood worldwide.
Invent
new
water
conservation
technologies
In areas where aquifers are drying up and rainwater is increasingly unpredictable,
innovation is needed. But as we attempt to cope with freshwater scarcity and develop
conservation technologies, energy consumption is an important consideration.
Recycle
wastewater
In March, World Water Day panelists urged a new mindset for wastewater treatment.
Some countries, like Singapore, are trying to recycle to cut water imports and become
more self-sufficient. The rich East Asian republic is a leader in developing advanced
technology that cleanses wastewater for other uses
Develop
energy
efficient
desalination
plants
To date, desalination has been an energy-intensive solution to water scarcity. Typically
the Middle East has capitalized on its large energy reserves to build desalination plants.
But Saudi Arabia could be fostering a new kind of desalination with its recent
announcement to use solar-powered plants. Britain has taken a different approach with small-scale facilities for agriculture. But these innovations bring to light another needed resource—the capital for technological experimentation. Improve
water catchment and harvesting
Water catchment systems are essential for areas with no other reliable water sources. Pakistan and India—two countries that contend with some of the worst effects of climate change—are overhauling rainwater harvesting systems. These efforts provide independent control of water resources.
Look to community-based governance and partnerships Community organizations elevate the experiences of those whose voices merit more influence. In April, for instance, indigenous groups met at the alternative climate change conference in Bolivia, a gathering meant to foster international partnerships among underrepresented groups. Ensuring more effective governance at the grassroots-level gives communities stature, and can lead to effective policy changes on a national scale. Holistically
manage ecosystems
Simply put, holistic management applies to a practical, common-sense approach to overseeing natural resources that takes into account economic, cultural, and ecological goals. In essence, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and each facet is related to and influences the others. Good examples of holistic management are communities that operate sewage treatment plants while pursuing partnerships with clean energy producers to use wastewater to fertilize algae and other biofuel crops. The crops, in turn, soak up nutrients and purify wastewater, significantly reducing pumping and treatment costs. Improve
distribution infrastructure
Poor infrastructure is devastating to health and the economy. It wastes resources, adds costs, diminishes the quality of life, and allows preventable water-borne diseases to spread among vulnerable populations, especially children. The problem is not confined to the developing world. Pipes burst on a regular basis in the U.S., prompting boil alerts. Sewage treatment systems regularly overflow and malfunction, causing beach closures.
