4.2 Water access, use and security

Guiding Questions

• What issues of water equity exist, and how can they be addressed?

• How do human populations affect the water cycle, and how does this impact water security?

Understandings

• Water Security: Defined as having access to sufficient amounts of safe drinking water for human well-being, livelihoods, and socio-economic development, ensuring protection against water-related pollution and disasters, and preserving ecosystems.

  • Factors impacting water availability and access are complex and include:

    • Social: Cultural practices, community values, and public perception of water resources.

    • Cultural: Traditional uses and spiritual significance of water that might influence access and management.

    • Economic: Income levels, affordability of water services, and investment in infrastructure.

    • Political: Governance structures, policies, regulations, and transboundary agreements. These interconnected factors often lead to unequal distribution and access.

  • For human well-being, the freshwater required must not only be accessible but also equitably distributed, meaning fair allocation among all populations without discrimination, and ensuring quality that meets health standards.

  • Population growth and concurrent economic development are primary drivers for the escalating need for increased water supply or significant improvements in the efficiency of utilization, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas.

Methods for Increasing Water Supply

• Construction of dams and reservoirs: These structures are crucial for storing large volumes of water, managing seasonal flows, generating hydroelectric power, and controlling floods. However, they can have significant environmental and social impacts, including displacement of communities and alteration of river ecosystems.

• Implementation of rainwater catchment systems: These systems collect and store rainwater for domestic and agricultural use, particularly valuable in regions with intermittent rainfall. They can range from simple roof-top collection to large-scale communal systems.

• Development of desalination plants: Desalination involves removing salt and other minerals from seawater or brackish water to produce potable water. While effective for increasing supply in coastal and arid regions, it is a highly energy-intensive process with considerable environmental challenges related to brine disposal.

• Enhancement of natural wetlands: Wetlands act as natural filters, purifying water from pollutants, and can also store water and recharge aquifers. Restoring and protecting these ecosystems is a sustainable approach to water management.

Water Scarcity

• Water Scarcity: Refers to a situation where the available freshwater resources are insufficient to meet the long-term average demand of a region's human population and its environment. It's a complex issue combining physical availability and socio-economic factors.

  • Water conservation techniques can be effectively employed at both domestic and industrial levels to mitigate scarcity by reducing overall demand. This includes promoting efficient water use in households, businesses, and industrial processes.

  • Mitigation strategies to counteract water scarcity have been outlined globally, focusing on demand management, supply augmentation, and improved governance.

Freshwater Use and Planetary Boundaries

• Freshwater use is considered a critical planetary boundary, meaning there is a quantifiable limit to how much freshwater can be appropriated by humanity without risking irreversible environmental degradation.

  • Increasing demand on freshwater resources leads to water stress, which can trigger risks of abrupt and potentially catastrophic changes to the hydrological system, affecting ecosystem functions and human societies.

  • Effective governance at local, national, and global levels is absolutely necessary for ensuring the sustainable use and equitable allocation of freshwater resources, including transboundary water bodies.

  • The concept of Water Footprint: Acts as a comprehensive measure of the total volume of freshwater used to produce goods and services consumed by an individual, community, or business. It encompasses both direct and indirect water use, guiding decision-making about water security and sustainable consumption patterns.

Citizen Science

• The role of citizen science in monitoring and managing water resources is increasingly vital, empowering local communities to collect data on water quality, levels, and pollution, thereby contributing valuable information for scientific research and local policy-making.

Water Stress

• Defined as having complete access to clean water supply of less than 1,700 cubic metres per capita per year. This threshold indicates a significant challenge in meeting human and environmental water needs.

  • Includes intertwined factors: scarcity of physical availability, compromised water quality due to pollution, inadequate environmental flows necessary to maintain ecosystem health, and accessibility issues stemming from infrastructure or socio-economic barriers.

• Causes of water stress are diverse and depend heavily on the specific socio-economic and geographical context; they may include:

  • Transboundary disputes: Conflicts arising over shared water sources, such as rivers or aquifers, crossing regional or international boundaries, often leading to political tensions and inequitable distribution.

  • Industrial practices: Extensive water use in manufacturing, mining, and energy production, often coupled with discharge of untreated or poorly treated wastewater, leading to environmental degradation and water pollution.

Inequitable Water Access

• Lack of access to clean, drinkable water and adequate sanitation adversely affects human health (leading to preventable diseases) and severely impedes sustainable development goals, particularly in vulnerable communities.

Water as a Critical Resource

• Statistics: These figures highlight the global severity of the water crisis:

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) states each person needs at least 20 liters of water daily for basic functioning, including drinking, cooking, and hygiene.

  • Globally, 1 in 10 people (approximately 780 million) lack consistent access to clean drinking water, leading to significant health and economic burdens.

  • Approximately 2.3 billion people worldwide lack basic sanitation services, contributing to widespread disease and environmental contamination.

  • Tragically, over 800 children under the age of five die daily from water-related diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea, preventable illnesses linked directly to unsafe water and inadequate sanitation.

  • In rural Africa, many women and children travel an average of 6 km daily to collect approximately 18 kg of water, consuming an estimated 200 million hours each day collectively, diverting time from education or income-generating activities.

  • Water sales in the USA are estimated at USD 4 billion annually, primarily for bottled water, indicating a market response to perceived quality and availability issues.

  • Approximately 90% of all natural disasters are water-related, including floods, droughts, and storms, exacerbated by climate change.

Daily Water Use in Different Regions

• Average per capita daily water use varies significantly, reflecting different lifestyles, economic development, and resource availability:

  • Japan: 286 liters

  • Europe: 200 liters

  • China: 180 liters

  • Tanzania: 101 liters

Shared Water Basins

• Over 263 major river basins are shared by more than one country globally, often leading to complex management challenges and potential for conflict due to the absence of adequate cooperative arrangements and legal frameworks for equitable sharing.

Water Footprint and Production Costs

• The water required for producing various food items illustrates the embedded water in our consumption choices, influencing dietary impacts on water resources:

  • Cheese: 5,605 liters/kg

  • Rice: 2,248 liters/kg

  • Potatoes: 59 liters/kg

  • Beef: 15,000 liters/kg (one of the most water-intensive foods)

Desalination

• Desalination: Involves a complex process of removing salt and other minerals from seawater or brackish water. Despite its effectiveness in increasing potable water supply, it remains highly energy-intensive (requiring high pressure for reverse osmosis or significant heat for distillation) and is thus economically viable mainly in wealthier nations near coastlines with access to energy.

  • High energy costs: Typically 10-13 kWh for producing 3,800 liters of water (equivalent to 1,000 gallons), making it considerably more expensive than traditional water treatment.

  • Issues: Environmental concerns include the disposal of concentrated brine (a highly saline waste product) which can significantly affect marine ecosystems by altering salinity and temperature. There is also potential contour pollution from chemicals used in the desalination process.

Water Usage Statistics

• World Bank 2019 water usage breakdown highlights the dominant sectors of water consumption:

  • Agriculture: 72% (primarily for irrigation)

  • Industry: 16% (for manufacturing, cooling, and processing)

  • Domestic use: 12% (for residential consumption, drinking, sanitation, etc.)

Factors Impacting Water Availability

• Water resources distribution and availability are significantly affected by a confluence of factors:

  • Climate: Patterns of precipitation, temperature, evaporation rates, and frequency of extreme weather events (droughts, floods).

  • Geological conditions: Presence of aquifers, rock permeability, and natural water filtration systems.

  • Infrastructure: The existence and condition of dams, pipes, treatment plants, and distribution networks.

  • Political will: Governmental commitment to invest in water management, implement effective policies, and secure transboundary agreements.

  • Poverty: Limited economic capacity to build and maintain necessary water infrastructure or access existing services.

Water Crisis

• The United Nations has termed the current global management of water resources as a "water crisis," emphasizing that freshwater scarcity and pollution pose a major risk to human well-being and environmental sustainability.

  • Up to 40% of humans face varying degrees of water scarcity today, a figure projected to increase with population growth and climate change.

Causes of Water Scarcity

1. Physical scarcity: This refers to the actual lack of available freshwater resources due to arid climates, drought, or over-extraction where demand exceeds natural replenishment capacity.

2. Economic scarcity: This occurs when a population lacks the necessary infrastructure (e.g., pipes, treatment facilities, wells) or financial resources to access an adequate supply of available water, even if there is sufficient water physically present.

3. Social and political factors: These include inadequate governance, corruption, conflicts, or discriminatory policies that hinder equitable resource allocation and management, preventing fair access to water for certain segments of society.

Governance and Water Resources

• Robust local and global governance frameworks are required for enforcing sustainable water use, ensuring equitable access, and protecting water quality.

• Transboundary water management is especially critical to prevent conflicts among nations sharing river basins or aquifers, necessitating international agreements and cooperative institutions.

Techniques to Minimize Water Scarcity

• Construction of efficient water distribution systems: Investing in modern infrastructure that minimizes leaks and ensures effective delivery to users.

• Encouragement of conservation: Promoting water-saving practices at individual (e.g., reducing shower times), domestic (e.g., installing low-flow fixtures), and industrial levels (e.g., recycling process water, optimizing production techniques).

Aquifers

• Defined as an underground layer of porous rock, sand, or gravel that can hold and transmit water. They are often recharged naturally by precipitation seeping through the ground.

  • Aquifer use can be unsustainable, especially when extraction rates exceed recharge rates, leading to depletion. This issue is compounded when aquifers are shared across political borders, complicating management and sustainability efforts.

• Fossil aquifers: These are ancient underground reservoirs of water that have been trapped in geological formations for thousands of years. They receive little to no natural recharge, meaning their water content cannot be replenished on a human timescale, and thus, their use cannot be sustained in the long term.

Water Conservation Strategies

Domestic Level

• Implementing practices such as taking shorter showers, turning off taps while brushing teeth or washing dishes, installing water-saving devices (e.g., low-flush toilets, efficient washing machines), and regularly checking for and repairing leaks in plumbing fixtures.

• Use of greywater recycling: Re-using water from sinks, showers, and washing machines (non-toilet wastewater) for purposes like garden irrigation, toilet flushing, or other non-potable uses. This significantly reduces fresh potable water demand for these activities.

Agricultural Water Conservation

• Strategies addressing irrigation inefficiency are paramount, as agriculture is the largest water consumer globally:

  • Drip irrigation's advantages: This method delivers water directly to the plant roots through a network of pipes and emitters, significantly reducing water usage by up to 50% compared to traditional flood or sprinkler irrigation methods, minimizing evaporation and runoff.

  • Timing irrigation optimally: Using weather forecasts, soil moisture sensors, and plant-specific needs to irrigate only when necessary and at the most efficient times (e.g., during cooler parts of the day to reduce evaporation).

  • Using technology for precision agriculture: Incorporating remote sensing, GIS, and smart irrigation systems to apply water precisely where and when it is needed, optimizing crop yield with minimal water input.

Case Study: Jordan

• Jordan is a country noted for its extreme water scarcity, ranking among the world's most water-poor nations. It relies heavily on external water resources and internal groundwater.

  • A significant portion of its water comes from shared borders (e.g., Yarmouk River, Jordan River) and underground aquifers (e.g., Disi aquifer), which are facing rapid depletion due to over-extraction. The country also faces challenging infrastructure issues, with aging pipelines leading to substantial water loss, further exacerbating scarcity.

Conclusion

• Water scarcity and inequity are pressing and complex global issues that demand immediate, concerted action through improved governance, enhanced conservation efforts, and the strategic application of advanced technologies. The sustainable future of human societies is intrinsically linked to how effectively these challenges are addressed.

• Understanding and continually monitoring the water footprint of individuals, communities, and industries can play a key role in developing and implementing effective sustainable water management initiatives, guiding policies, and promoting responsible consumption patterns globally.