Water scarcity may be the most underestimated resource issue facing the world. As world water demand has more than tripled over the last half-century, signs of water scarcity are becoming increasingly commonplace, say experts on World Water Day

The crisis in water management remains the world's biggest challenge halfway to 2015, the year when the globally-agreed Millennium Development Goals are supposed to be reached. In fact, the theme for World Water Day, on March 22, this year was 'Coping with Water Scarcity,' with the United Nations stressing the importance of good governance and proper management of water resources at both the international and local levels.

Water scarcity can be physical, economic or institutional, and can fluctuate over time and space. Today, more than 700 million people in 43 countries suffer from water scarcity; by 2025 this figure could rise to 3 billion.

"Water use has grown at more than twice the rate of population increase over the last century, making sustainable, efficient and equitable management of scarce water resources a key challenge for the future," says the Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO's) Pasquale Steduto, current Chair of the UN coordination mechanism, UN-Water, made up of 24 UN agencies that have a significant role in tackling global water concerns, and also major non-UN partners.

The FAO says that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world's population could be living under water stress conditions. Those affected are already among the world's poorest, over half of them living in China and India, according to UN estimates.

Most countries in the Near East and North Africa suffer from acute water scarcity, as do countries like Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa and large parts of China and India.

Coping with water scarcity will require addressing a range of issues from protection of the environment and global warming to equitable distribution of water for irrigation, industry and household use. "The state of the world's water remains fragile," the new United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in his official address. "Available supplies are under great duress as a result of high population growth, unsustainable consumption patterns, poor management practices, pollution, inadequate investment in infrastructure, and low efficiency in water use."

"Sound water resource management at all levels can help countries adopt flexible approaches that allow more people to have the water they need, while preserving the environment," says Steduto, who also serves as chief of the FAO's Water, Development and Management Unit. "The global community has the know-how to cope with water scarcity, but we have to take action."

Recognising the vital part freshwater plays in human security and development, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, adopted by UN member states at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, called on countries to develop integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005.

Only about 12% of countries have done so to date, says a 2006 UN-Water report titled 'Water: A Shared Responsibility'.

Financial resources for water are also stagnating. According to the report, total official development assistance to the water sector in recent years has averaged about US$ 3 billion a year. However, only a small proportion -- 12% -- of these funds reach those most in need, according to UN-Water, and only about 10% is used to support development of water policy, planning and programmes.

Added to the shortfall, private sector investment in water services is also declining. During the 1990s, the private sector spent an estimated US$ 25 billion on water supply and sanitation in developing countries, mostly in Latin America and Asia. However, according to UN-Water, many big multinational water companies have begun withdrawing from or downsizing their operations in the developing world because of the high political and financial risks.

The FAO points out that even people in areas with plenty of freshwater sometimes experience scarcity. "Good governance is essential for managing our increasingly stretched supplies of freshwater, and indispensable for tackling poverty," notes Koichiro Matsuura, Director General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Although there are no accurate figures, UNESCO estimates that political corruption costs the water sector millions of dollars every year and undermines water services, especially to the poor. 'Water: A Crisis of Governance', a report published by UN-Water in 2006, cites a survey in India in which 41% of respondents had made more than one "small bribe" in the past six months to falsify meter readings; 30% had made payments to "expedite repair work", and 12% had made payments to "expedite new water and sanitation connections".

The report points to "mismanagement, corruption, lack of appropriate institutions, bureaucratic inertia and a shortage of new investments in building human capacity as well as physical infrastructure," as the primary causes of water shortages.

There is enough water in the world for everyone, but only if it is properly managed, says the UN. Slightly more than 1 billion people do not have access to adequate clean water to meet their basic daily needs, and 2.6 billion do not have proper sanitation, according to the World Health Organisation and Unicef.

If present trends are allowed to continue unchecked, UN-Water warns that regions such as sub-Saharan Africa will not meet the MDG of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. The MDG target of halving the proportion of people without basic sanitation will not be met either.

Source: www.alertnet.org, March 22, 2007
www.un.org/news,March 22,2007
- www.ipsnews.net, March 21, 2007