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By David Suzuki
In Canada, it’s hard not to take water for granted. You turn on the tap
and - voila - there it is! We are indeed spoiled. But a huge number of the world’s
population doesn’t have that luxury, and improving the situation as our
global population continues to expand will require a new approach.
On a planet where 71 percent of the surface is covered with water, it can be hard
to imagine that more than one billion people do not have access to safe drinking
water, while another 2.4 billion don’t have adequate sanitary services.
These harsh conditions may seem medieval, but they are a reality of life in much
of the developing world. Together, these problems account for up to five million
deaths every year.
To begin addressing the problem, the United Nations declared 2003 to be International
Year of Freshwater and pledged to cut in half by 2015 the number of people without
clean water or adequate sanitation. Unfortunately, there is little indication
that improving access to clean water is a priority among wealthier nations.
According to an analysis by the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development,
Environment and Security published recently in the journal Science, aid from wealthy
nations for clean water and sanitation projects in the developing world is drying
up, not improving. In fact, it’s declined from $3.4 billion per year in
1996, to $3 billion per year in 2001.
To make matters worse, the people suffering most from lack of clean water and
sanitation are receiving the least amount of aid. Countries where only 60 percent
of the population has access to clean water receive just 12 percent of international
funding. Researchers say that unless greater efforts are made, the cumulative
death toll by 2020 from inadequate access to clean water and sanitation is expected
to be between 52 and 118 million people - mostly children.
Developed countries have tended to solve their water problems through massive
infrastructure projects like dams and canals. These projects delivered huge volumes
of water, but at a high cost. Large dams and reservoirs have displaced tens of
millions of people in the last century and done irreparable damage to freshwater
ecosystems. Dams and irrigation schemes now remove so much water from some rivers
that they can dry up before reaching the sea. The Colorado River, for example,
now rarely flows all the way to the Gulf of California.
Focusing on large infrastructure projects to provide even more freshwater for
the Earth’s growing population would cost an estimated $180 billion per
year by 2025 - a staggering sum. The environmental and social costs of such projects
would also be extremely high. Fortunately, there are less damaging and less expensive
ways to provide clean water to the developing world.
Rather than just providing massive amounts of water, researchers instead suggest
a "soft path" that will cause fewer environmental and social problems
while still providing the world with adequate freshwater. This path focuses on
being as effective as possible with a minimum amount of water using techniques
such as rainwater harvesting, integrated land-use plans, precision-application
irrigation and the pricing of appropriate tools to ensure water is not wasted.
Not long ago, the use of vast amounts of water and energy was equated with having
a high quality of life. Fortunately, we’ve become much more efficient at
using water and that connection is no longer true. The United States, for example,
now uses less total freshwater than it did two decades ago.
Developed nations need to continue to become more efficient, because our freshwater
resources in many areas are stretched to their limits. In the developing world,
following a soft path approach could reduce the costs of delivering freshwater
by as much as 90 percent - bringing clean water and adequate sanitation within
the reach of millions more people. But that will only happen if there’s
enough political will to ensure adequate aid reaches the hands of those who can
use it most effectively.
Take the Nature Challenge and learn more
at www.davidsuzuki.org
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