Coronavirus: Start with essential resources. Water.

Although it is difficult to divert attention from the dramatic situation in which our country rages, it is essential not to lower our guard on what are the primary needs for life. Today we celebrate World Water Day, an essential element for the life of the planet.
Even before food is consumed, the survival time of a human being without water is reduced to just 14 days.

A scenario that to date seems to us not only far away but even surreal. Water is a natural, undue and exhaustible resource.

As highlighted by the trade associations which represent Italian agriculture, record temperatures and lack of rainfall, especially in Central and Southern Italy, jeopardizes the harvests of the last winter horticulture and extends also to summer crops and cereals.
The lockdown will not be a matter of a few weeks. In a historical moment like this, in which national agriculture plays a strategic and fundamental role to guarantee the country’s needs, attention to reduce water wastage at home and water efficiency must be a priority. We are reminded of this by the power and extremity of the climatic phenomena of this period.
Desertification is on the increase. At the European level, this already affects 8% of the territory, condensed mainly in southern, eastern and central Europe. Thirteen states have already declared that they are affected by desertification. Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, and Greece are but a few of the names of the most affected. This is a scenario destined to get worse with 2050 forecasts having 30% of the European population with problems of access to water.
To this, we must add the consumption of this precious resource, which is increasingly greater than the capacity of our ecosystem to regenerate. Agriculture is the sector that uses the most water. While in general, 70% of the available water goes to produce food, the water impacts of individual foods also vary considerably. An example of this is 214 liters of water per kg of tomatoes produced. It is then easy to understand the risks of price increases for food in contexts of water scarcity. According to the World Resource Institute, over the next 20 years, 72% of wheat production, utilizing irrigation, will take place in areas that are extremely prone to water stress.
Not to mention current data on food waste. One-third of the food produced globally is thrown away. This is a waste (food) in (water) waste. When we throw food away, we also throw away all the water and energy used to produce it.

When we talk about water scarcity, specific attention should also be paid to the impact of domestic consumption. Although the World Health Organization defines the concept of water scarcity in the amount between 50 and 100 liters of water per person per day as the amount needed to ensure the main needs, we know that in most Western countries this percentage is excessively exceeded. In Italy alone, which holds, among other things, the record for the withdrawal of per capita water for drinking use among all the countries of the European Union, it reaches 428 liters of water per capita per day for domestic use. This is expected to increase by 25% of the already high water consumption during this century.
This data adds up to increasingly frequent inefficiencies in the management of the water network and waste. Whether it is negligence, carelessness or sheer obliviousness, we already know, based on the example provided by some countries, the seriousness of the impact of a prolonged water shortage situation. Damage to the national economy (which in some areas of Africa and Asia already contributes to a -6% of national GDP), competition between resource users, wars and massive displacement of people. The year 2018 alone witnessed the presence of 17.2 million people displaced by natural disasters. By 2025, half the world’s population will live in water-stressed areas. And when resources are scarce, it is easy to see the risks of drastic price increases or rationing.
Then the words of Graziano da Silva, former FAO Director-General, draw attention back to the responsibility we all have today for our planet, for our children and for ourselves: ”It is quite impossible to avoid a drought from happening, but we can avoid a drought turning into famine or displacement of people.”

What?

Now that we have been forced to “RESET”, we perhaps have in front of us a blank sheet on which to redesign the future! We must lose the bad habits, subvert inefficient and unsustainable water systems, encourage the adoption of technologies that would allow an immediate optimization of the production process, bring man and nature, together, at the center and introduce a concept of prosperity that is also synonymous with regeneration.
The whole world is experiencing the effects of the forced and necessary change given by the spread of coronavirus. A revolutionary approach and a change of perspective that has found the entire global community breathless, unprepared and surprised.
Our businesses have stopped because we were so busy growing them that we forgot the foundations on which they rest: the essential resources of the Planet. Water, energy, soil. We over-exploited these resources and our castle collapsed.

At least with water, we try to catch the signals that the earth is sending us and not be completely unprepared.