water water everywhere … but nary a drop

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Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

Coleridge

(the Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

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Nope.

 

This isn’t going to be a literary post. This is about water. And access to it.

And how a boatload of people doesn’t have access to water (and more will have that issue in years to come).

 

Think 10% of world (people) don’t have direct access sanitary water (I actually believe that number is low).

 

 

Seems kind of crazy doesn’t it?

 

 

Water?

 

 

Depending on where you live drinking water is … well … is just “there.” You have it. Not bottled water (which is a travesty of an industry). I mean running water. The stuff that comes out of some spigot. Maybe not the grandest of tasting water, but drinkable.

 

 

There is actually a World Water Forum where people gather to debate issues of global water policy.

 

 

And recently the UN announced that the millennium development goal target on water has been met, ahead of schedule.

 

 

Two billion more people now have access to drinking water than in 1990.

 

 

Yeah. I typed 2 billion. And we have maybe 7 billion people globally.

 

 

Think about that. The base changes (1990 to now) but simplistically that means almost 30% of the world didn’t have access to drinking water at some point.

 

 

(yikes)

 

 

For us folk with our fancy schmancy Kohler (or Wenzhou Lixin or GoldenPro or whatever your region has)  faucets that just doesn’t seem possible.

 

Oh.

 

 

And we are talking about “access” to drinking water … sanitation is a completely different Millennium goal.

 

 

Writing on the Poverty matters blog, Sanjay Wijesekera, chief of water, sanitation and hygiene for UNICEF, offered a reality check on progress:

 

 

783 million people still do not have access to drinking water, this most basic human right. That is more than one in 10 people in the world. It is perhaps particularly depressing when one considers who these people are, where they live, and the impact this has on their lives. In addition, the other part of the same millennium development goal target – relating to access to adequate sanitation – is still off track.

 

 

Yeah.

 

 

I just typed 783 million.

 

 

Think about that my friends. USA has about 311 million people. Over twice the US population does not have access to drinking water.

 

 

Ok.

 

 

And I think the situation is going to get even trickier.

 

 

The World Bank reports that 80 countries, yes, 80 countries now have water shortages that threaten health and economies making up that 780+ million have no access to clean water or sanitation. I share that so we do not believe this is an isolated issue.

 

 

I say that because water conflicts are not that far off.

 

 

Consider this.

 

 

More than a dozen nations receive most of their water from rivers that cross borders of neighboring countries viewed as hostile.

 

 

The countries include Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, the Congo, Gambia, the Sudan, and Syria, all of whom receive 75 percent or more of their fresh water from the river flow of their sometimes hostile neighboring countries.

 

 

Oh.

 

And as if there isn’t enough to worry about in the Middle East … but then there is water and obtaining adequate water supplies for the people. It is becoming a significantly higher political priority.

 

 

For example, water has been a contentious issue in recent negotiations between Israel and Syria. In recent years, Iraq, Syria and Turkey have exchanged verbal threats over their use of shared rivers.

 

 

An interesting side note. I found a website that said “river” and “rival” share the same Latin root; a rival is “someone who shares the same stream.”

 

 

Anyway.

 

 

Water.

 

 

Even The Economist wrote a monster piece on the growing issue of water. Because even while there are steps being taken to increase access to the current situation it isn’t that simple … because the situation is changing.

 

 

Urbanization of the world.

 

 

A prime cause of the global water concern is the ever-increasing world population and its urbanization. As populations become more industrialized they inevitably become more urban. Africa’s population is quickly shifting to a more urban society. And, of course, as populations grow, industrial, agricultural and individual water demands escalate.

 

According to the World Bank, world-wide demand for water is doubling every 21 years, more in some regions. Current water supplies, let alone water distribution systems, cannot remotely keep pace with demand, as populations soar and cities explode.

 

To put this in perspective for some readers … google California and water. With the current population there is water rationing. I say that so we don’t solely think this is Botswana’s problem and not affecting us.

 

 

Anyway.

 

 

Urbanization also leads to a higher level of living standards. And living standards typically linked to water usage (you may not have thought of that but it becomes obvious as soon as it is stated).

 

 

So population growth alone does not account for increased water demand. Since 1900, there has been a six-fold increase in water use for only a two-fold increase in population size. This reflects greater water usage associated with rising standards of living (e.g., cleanliness associated with health and diets containing less grain and more meat).

 

 

Sanitation and Growth

cambodia water

 

Population increases lead to several things including “needs” and “waste.”

 

Needs.

You have to feed people. And many places need to feed themselves. Water quality is deteriorating in many areas of the developing world as population increases and the productivity of the land, caused by industrial farming and over-extraction, decreases (for a variety of ground technical issues which I will not bore you with).

 

Oh.

And waste.

Think about this factoid … about 95 percent of the world’s cities still dump raw sewage into their waters. So not only are we short on water we are also decreasing the usability of the stuff we have.

 

 

Climate change

 

 

Ok.

I am not going to get into a global warming discussion. Suffice it to say the climate changes over time … and it is changing (regardless of the cause/affect).

This means many countries, and geographies, are suffering massive changes – parts of China face accelerating desertification and parts of Indonesia are facing accelerating monsoons.

 

 

This makes climate change the wild card. Climate change is occurring — and most experts now concur that it is — what effect will it have on water resources?

 

It will have a lot of effect. Some rivers will dry up … and some will significantly increase their flow (affecting any population within flood plains). And by saying that someone could quite easily suggest “doesn’t that net out as a zero sum change?” Well. Maybe.

 

 

But maybe the bigger discussion on this isn’t necessarily the effect on the actual water resources … but rather the shifting locations of water resources <this is where politics of water truly become an issue>.

 

 

Water resources is going to very quickly take on extreme politicalness.

 

 

People will have to move or gain access to water through new resources.

 

Unfortunately water, or climate change, doesn’t follow country boundaries. Who “owns” the water will drive politics as it currently does in the Middle East … but in many many more places.

 

 

Water conflict

 

 

We often think of religion, and government styles, as creating cultural & country tension.  But how often do we think of water that way?

 

We need to. Because this isn’t an ideological issue or discussion. This is a base “needs” discussion. To survive people will do things and take action.

 

 

Regardless.

 

drowning no water life

Water.

 

To most of us we don’t even think about it.

 

But for 783 million people they think about it a lot.

 

For 80 countries they think about it a lot.

 

 

Think about that (a lot).

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Written by Bruce