Bleak future for global water supplies.
Two new reports, one from the WWF and the other from the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) forecast a bleak future for global water supplies.
The WWF’s report, an analysis of access to fresh water, warns of a ‘major and mounting’ water crisis for the world’s richer nations as well as the poorest.
It notes the recurring droughts along Europe’s Atlantic front, and says that ‘it is now apparent that intensive pollution remediation in Europe’s heartland will not
be able to salvage some contaminated water sources – while the much worse contamination issues of Eastern Europe are yet to be substantially addressed.’In the US, the report warns that large areas are using ‘substantially’ more water
than can be naturally replenished, which will be exacerbated by climate change. Salinity threatens important irrigation, and there is increasing anxiety over chemical and pathogen contamination. ‘The main mechanisms for controlling
pollution are themselves under threat,’ it adds.
In Australia, nearly all the major cities have water restrictions and salinity is a major threat here, too. Japan has high rainfall but high population and ‘surprisingly’ low levels of water per capita. Cities can suffer both water shortages and damaging floods. Contamination of supplies, including groundwater, is an extremely serious issue.
Common problems in the developed world include looming exhaustion of supplies, water-related conflicts, contamination, degraded landscape functioning,
and economic issues such as leakage.
There is an acceptance in the developed world that water must be used efficiently, the report concludes, and countries have the choice of trying to match use with their natural water realities. Key challenges include proper valuation of water, agreeing on the balance between conservation and consumption, changing attitudes to water, modifying or repairing ageing or inappropriate infrastructure, bringing agriculture into line
with expectations and prices for other users, reducing contamination and building knowledge of natural water cycles and processes.
The report deals with issues in detail by continent, and is available at www.wwf.org.
The WBCSD report, based on a two and a half-year year study by influential member companies including Suez, Shell, Coca Cola and Severn Trent, looks at a number of possible water-related scenarios, starting around 2010 and moving
forward in time.
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