Facts on Water Resources - GreenFacts

How can the growing demand for water be met?Meeting a continuous and ever increasing demandfor water requires efforts to compensate for naturalvariability, and to improve the quality and quantityavailable.Rainwater has been collected for thousands of yearsin many parts of the world. Today, this technique isused in Asia to replenish underground supplies. It isrelatively inexpensive and has the advantage ofallowing local communities to develop and maintainthe required structures themselves.© Daniele SangermaniDiverting surface water into the ground can helpreduce losses from evaporation, compensate forvariations in flow, and improve quality. Middle Eastand Mediterranean regions are applying thisstrategy.Dams and reservoirs have been built to store waterfor irrigation and drinking. Moreover dams canprovide power and help control floods, but they canalso bring about undesirable social andenvironmental impacts.Transferring water between river basins can also help alleviateshortages. China, for instance, already has major interbasin links, and isplanning more. The impact of these projects on people and theenvironment must be monitored closely.Wastewater is now reused for different purposes in many countries,especially in the Middle East, and this practice is expected to grow.Worldwide, non-potable water is used for irrigation and industrialcooling. Cities are also turning to water re-use to supplement drinkingwater supplies, taking advantage of progress in water treatment.Desalinated water – seawater and other salty water that has beenturned into freshwater – is used by cities and by industries, especially inthe Middle East. The cost of this technique has dropped sharply, but itrelies heavily on energy from fossil fuels and raises waste managementand climate change issues.How could water resources be developed sustainably?Using water resources sustainably is challenging because of the manyfactors involved, including changes in climate, the natural variability ofthe resource, as well as pressures due to human activity.At present, most water policy is still driven by short-term economic andpolitical concerns that do not take into account science and goodstewardship. State-of-the-art solutions and more funding, along withmore data on water resources, are needed especially in developingnations.To assess the state of our water resources, we must fully appreciate theroles of different parts of the water cycle – such as rain, meltwater fromglaciers, and so on. Otherwise, it remains difficult to develop adequateprotection and mitigation strategies.Poor water quality and unsustainable use of water resources can limitthe economic development of a country, harm health and affectlivelihoods. More sustainable practices are starting to be adopted.The traditional response to rising demand for water was to store surfacewater in reservoirs, divert flow to dry regions and withdraw groundwater.Now these methods are increasingly supplemented by water reuse,desalination and rainfall harvesting. Certain regions are even going tothe extreme of exploiting non-renewable groundwater resources.Some countries have programs to reduce demand and losses from urbanwater distribution systems but more efforts are necessary. However, thiswill involve changes in behaviour requiring education and politicalcommitment. Such efforts to conserve water and reduce demand are notonly useful in regions where water is in short supply, they can also bringeconomic benefits in wetter regions.Decentralised approaches to water resource management that focus onriver basins are increasingly pursued even across borders. Exchanginginformation between countries that share river basins will yield botheconomic and environmental benefits.When managing water resources, more attention should be paid toincreasing existing natural resources and reducing demand and losses.