'A Thirsty World' Towards a sustainable and prudent water resource strategy

Dr. Boidurjo Rick Mukhopadhyay

International Award-Winning Development and Management Economist, can be reached at boidurjo@gmail.com

Prof Bibhas K Mukhopadhyay

Professor of Management, and author of the book 'India's Economy: Under a Tinsel still Tough'.

He can be reached at m.bibhas@gmail.com

In 2012, La Soif Du Monde (or a 'A Thirsty World') and 'The Fight for Water: A Farm Worker Struggle' were two documentaries based on true stories hinting at the future of water (or the lack of it) and how communities struggle for it. Erik Stokstad, an environment specialist, once said, "H2O - is there any other molecule so vital, and so problematic, for people?". The UN estimates that around 1.2 billion people, i.e. 20 per cent of world population, live in areas where the limits of sustainable water use have already either been reached or breached. It is high time that the water issue sits as a priority on the global agenda, not just on water dedicated institutions, in light of the dire reality. There may be still enough water for all of us only if we could keep it clean and share the same.

Every year, several millions of people die from drinking contaminated water. To help address these challenges related to freshwater, scientists in many disciplines are applying new tools and techniques. One way has been to understand the impact of climate change on water quantity and quality, and predict future needs and threats. Another way has been to explore on making use of water—for drinking or industrial purposes—from sources that are otherwise considered unusable. An emerging area is the ecological impact of activities related to the energy industry such as fracking or carbon sequestration. Other researchers are trying to increase the efficiency of farms and factories - the biggest consumers. Water scarcity already poses a great threat before economic growth, human rights and national security.

Water and life are synonymous. This particular resource, being the most crucial factor considered from the point of view of environment protection, poverty alleviation and promote development inasmuch as now globally more than two-and-a-half billion people live in the most abysmal standards of hygiene and sanitation. The obscene wastage of water and absence of regular clean water supply not only to the burgeoning metropolis but to a large number of rural regions also simultaneously coexist.

A global phenomenon requiring local action

Water recycling and finding better ways to remove salt from seawater holds the key. Population growth could cause global demand for water to outpace supply by mid-Century if current levels of consumption continue, according to a recent study. Periods of increased demand for water - often coinciding with population growth or other major demo graphic and social changes – were followed by periods of rapid innovation of new water technologies that helped end or ease any shortages. Using a delayed-feedback mathematical model that analyses historic data to help project future trends, some studied have identified a regularly recurring pattern of global water use in recent centuries. Based on this recurring pattern, researchers from Duke University predict a similar period of innovation could occur in coming decades.

In India, though accessibility to drinking water has increased considerably during the last decade in particular yet around 10 per cent of the rural and urban population still does not have access to regular safe drinking water. During critical summer, especially, the condition goes from bad to worse in many parts of the country – still! Excessive and unsustainable extraction of ground water to meet agriculture, industrial and domestic demands is steadily harming the rural and urban settlements.

The immediate need is thus there to invest in reliable, proven and advanced water purification system that guarantees the public – in both rural and urban areas – safe and pure drinking water at all times. State-of-the-art technology available on this score must be extensively made use of in a time-bound manner to protect the triple bottom (planet, people, profit) from threats coming from various pollution forms.

We continue to remain at the early stages of awakening. A realistic approach - obviously not by holding seminars and observance of world water day only – could mitigate the incidence. The responsibility lies equally with the Government sector as well as private sector and also, we - individuals.

PROACTIVE over REACTIVE use of water technologies

It is good to note that on this score companies are proactively taking initiatives and are stepping up steadily. The company called Ecolab intends to further leverage lot and machine learning to enhance its proactive services to ensure water is conserved and available to both business and the communities they operate in. They, providing their service to about 40,000 customers in more than 170 countries around the world, have been bringing in positive moves - promises to maximize asset life. There is a positive impact on process efficiency too.

Hopefully the next generation 3D TRASAR technology reduces reuse and recycle of water.

In lieu of conclusion

Population growth would put further strains on per capita availability of water. Efforts to enhance drinking water supply must move at a greater speed so as to cover all of the villages with adequate potable water connection/supply. Technology would play the bigger role in such a context to meet people's basic needs in a sustained manner. Naturally, protecting fresh water reserves, watershed development, chemical treatments following the safety norms, tackling the arsenic and fluoride contamination, among others, could give rich dividends.

The World Bank rightly said that key problems in India's water sector include data secrecy, competition for resources, too much focus on increasing supply and not enough on management. The total cost of environmental damage in India, as per World Bank estimates, amounts to 4.5 per cent of GDP and of this 59 per cent results from the health impact of water pollution!

The government has to come up with a new water resource strategy, since the sector needed to become more sustainable, efficient and focused on how water is used and how it reaches people. To ensure economic growth and political stability, approach to water management must be a positive, forward looking and not myopic! Let there be no water conflicts, conflicts between users and across regions. Water limits are close to being breached in several countries, while food output has to increase by up to 100 per cent by 2050 to sustain a growing world population, according to the United Nations.

Time is ripe to extensively use lot to holistically manage water and energy usage. Further efforts must be intensified to maximize the use of technology to proactively conserve water and improve performance in water-intensive industries. A progressive, realistic plan has to focus A) improving data collection on the location and types of water resources, B) promoting water-saving farming technologies, C) developing sewage treatment facilities alongside water projects, and D) establishing a national monitoring body and a new legal framework for the sector. As we can't expand in a quantitative sense, we have to expand by using our water more carefully.