Water Crisis

A water crisis looms closer every day. The United Nations projects that the global population will increase from a population of 7.7 billion in 2019 to 10.9 billion by the end of the century. Water by far is the commonest substance on earth. Ninety-seven percent of the total is seawater, which is unfit for human use. Of the remaining 3% that is fresh-water, two-thirds is locked-up in glaciers and ice-capes around the north and south poles, which also, at present, is inaccessible. Only 1% of the entire world’s water is available for human consumption. Two-thirds of this consumption already goes to irrigation, and agricultural needs are increasing especially in the developing countries.

The classic supply and demand principle does not apply. In other words, more water cannot be manufactured using innovative technologies. Unlike coal or oil, water cannot be drilled with the exception of fossilized groundwater. Thus, the water we have available naturally is what we have to work with. In a natural cycle, rainwater falls from the clouds on to the land, nourishes crops and life, returns through rivers to the sea, which evaporates as fresh water back into the clouds. In that it is infinitely renewable.

The challenge thus lies in wrestling with the following questions: (i) Is water not a basic human right? (ii) How do we provide this substance where it is most needed? (iii) Is allocation and oversight of this priceless substance a problem of governance? and (iv) Is climate change denial giving way to dissonance, within both public and private sectors, that our world is changing without our ability to fathom just how?

Basic human right

The term “right” refers to rights under the international law, where nations have an obligation and a duty to protect and promote those rights. A survey by Peter Gleick, of the Pacific Water Institute, recommends that 50 liters of basic water requirement is necessary for human domestic needs per person per day. The recommendation of 50 liters per capita per day (lpcd) is justifiable and appropriate, but the specific number is less important than the principle of setting a goal and implementing actions to reach that goal.

Over 2 billion people living in 62 countries report average domestic water use below 50 lpcd. If water is a basic human right, to what extent does a State have a responsibility to provide its citizens with this substance? Meeting this minimum need should take precedence over other allocations of spending for economic development requiring a redirection of current priorities at international and local levels.

The overall economic and social benefits of meeting basic water needs far outweigh any reasonable assessment of the costs of providing for these needs. One early estimate was that water-related diseases cost society on the order of $125 billion per year (in late 1970 dollars) just in direct medical expenses and lost work time. This estimate excludes costs associated with social disruptions due to disease, lost educational opportunities for families, long-term debilitation of children, or any other hidden costs. Yet the cost of providing new infrastructure needs for all major urban water sectors has been estimated at around $25 to $50 billion per year.

While these costs are far below the costs of failing to meet these needs, they are two to three times the average rate of spending for water during the 1980s and 1990s, according to a study conducted by the United Nations. It has been estimated, moreover, that 80 percent of the investment in the 1980s represented expenditures to meet the needs of a relatively small number of affluent urban dwellers. Studies on investment alternatives reveal that 80 percent of the unserved can be reached for only 30 percent of the costs of providing the highest level of service to all.

Challenges of water scarcity

Key challenges that need to be addressed if we are to meet the growing demands within the limits of available resources are:

1. Improvements in the management of the water resources and the environment must be taken. Human consumption of water threatens to push the limits of the capacity to supply benefits to mankind. Increasing demand due to increasing population jeopardizes the flows of rivers and wetland ecosystems. In many developing nations, the inability to manage these resources effectively has reduced rivers to a mere trickle by the time they reach sea; and lakes have dried out or reduced in size. This in turn disrupts aquatic and other terrestrial ecosystems, the quantity and quality of water supplies, and the wider natural environmental.
2. Proactive action to avoid conflicts over water resources. Water resources, throughout history, have been a source of conflict. As demand for water rises, the potential for conflict may rise as well. These conflicts may arise within local communities, sub-national level, or even among nations. In all from 3000 B.C. to 2002, there have been 113 known conflicts related to water. Although there are countries discussing trans-boundary water issues as well as opposed to simply resorting to conflict.
3. Allocation improvements of water between different uses should be considered. As populations grow, disputes for access to water will also grow. A mechanism for balancing and managing social equity and market efficiency and thus for allocating this resource among the various sectors will be important. Water also has in several societies’ religious significance. Allocation, thus, is a capability many governments lack to plan and implement. And while some governments may have a model for implementing and planning the distribution and utilization of this precious resource, the rapid growth of populations often hampers and drives the model into obsolescence.
   
   Use of water for agriculture already threatens both the quantity and quality of water resources, particularly ground water, used for domestic purposes. The Ganges delta provides a good example: increased drawdown of the water table through over-pumping for irrigation has made it difficult to use the simple shallow well pumps commonly used to draw drinking water from the thousands of tube-wells in the countryside. And then there are frequent clashes between the timing of agricultural water needs and the need to generate hydro powered electricity. Dams are often constructed to produce energy to generate power and provide electricity to the citizens, but the development and implementation of large dams, which is rampant, in the developing nations, causes severe displacement of people, destruction of farms, and destroys forests and ecosystems.
4. Examine delivery mechanisms for sustainable water and sanitation services. (a) Technical sustainability. Historically, decision makers have favored complex, high-cost piped systems for water supply, sewerage, and drainage. This is due partly to the tendency for direct transfer of technologies from developed to developing countries, and partly to the view that customers should have the same high levels of service provided to customers in developed countries. Service levels may be appropriate to developed countries, with economies strong enough to bear the enormous capital and recurrent costs are, however, rarely appropriate in developing countries. The challenge is, therefore, to explore a range of alternative options and adapt solutions to be more appropriate to the strength of the economy and to the needs of the people and also more amenable to affordable management and maintenance. (b) Operational sustainability. Turning to the issue of funding for operation and maintenance, recent studies indicate the amounts allocated for the operation and maintenance of irrigation schemes are typically less than 50% of the requirements; a similar level of under-funding exists with water and sanitation services. But the shortfall is not being made up from revenues from the users. This is because of the widely held view that water services, especially water supply and sanitation, must be provided free of charge by governments due to their importance for people’s health and livelihood security. So water agencies have not been charging their users the true cost of supplying water and sanitation services. This situation often benefits the better off, who tend to use large quantities of water at little or no cost, while failing to ensure service delivery to the poor, who are rarely connected to the services. There is, therefore, a strong case for charging realistic tariffs and for collecting appropriate revenues in order to finance operation and maintenance. (c) Financial sustainability. On a global level, there is a substantial financing shortfall across the whole water sector of both capital investment and investment for the operation and maintenance of existing infrastructure. So the challenge of financial sustainability has two aspects: how to find enough money for capital investment to reach all the currently un-served people, and how to raise enough money to cover operation and maintenance, and eventual replacement. Estimates of the capital investment that will be needed to provide universal water and sanitation services vary in the range of $200–400 billion. But, given rich people’s power and ability to attract funds to satisfy their higher water demands, either more money will be needed, or the time horizon will be much longer making the achievement of the targets more difficult.
5. Strengthen coordination among the international players. Several large international organizations and networks are working in this area to help ameliorate the water crisis and improve the living conditions. The main multilateral agencies providing money are the World Bank, and the regional development banks in Asia, America, and Africa. Others include the European Union, UNDP and UNICEF. While such overwhelming interest and support for delivering such a basic necessity is encouraging, large numbers can create a coordination challenge. The classic adage: “the right hand does not know what the left is doing,” should be prevented. All these agencies have different financial rules and regulations, and often have differing priorities regarding water.
6. Greater commitment and actions between public and private sectors. Time is running out. Unless immediate steps. are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the average temperature will likely rise by 1.5 degrees celsius. Action especially by heavy-emitting industries, to name a few, such as chemicals, oil and gas, steelmaking, mining, cement manufacturing. Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, a financial services firm managing over $10 trillion of assets, in his 2020 shareholder report, said “Climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects.” For its part, Mr. Fink says will ditch investments, from its portfolio, that contribute to the problem. However, in his annual letter to shareholders this January (2022), changed the tone and message. He said, his firm would support fewer resolutions on climate change, “…we do not consider them to be consistent with our clients’ long-term financial interests.”

Conclusion

There are a few potential solutions to meet the financing and social gaps in the water and sanitation sectors:

- Increasing bilateral aid flows,
- Reallocating public sector resources,
- Generating and sharing knowledge that our world is changing without the ability to fathom just how, and
- Developing policies and strategies for integrated water management.

References

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14. Sunman, Hilary. (1999). “Towards an Assessment of Financial Flows in the Water Sector.” Background paper prepared for the Global Water Partnership Framework for Action paper.
15. Woodward, David. (1998). “Drowning by Numbers — The IMF, The World Bank and North-South Financial Flows.” Bretton Woods Project, September 1998.