Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

2 3 4 / C H A L L E N G E S T O L I F E A N D W E L L - B E I N GPromoting Cleaner Industry for Everyone’s BenefitNevertheless, the available data can be considered as a startingpoint for the development of indicators of demand-side performance.A crude index representing the economic value (in US$) obtained byindustry per cubic metre (m 3 ) of water is obtained by comparing thequantity of freshwater consumed by industry each year and theIndustrial Value Added (IVA) – at constant 1995 US$ (World Bank,2001). 2The transformation of water quality data into indicators presentsmany of the same difficulties described above. In addition:■ estimation methodologies relate to particular industrialtechnologies and employee productivity rates that may beinappropriate, particularly in developing countries;■ BOD is not a total measure of industrial impacts on water qualityas some contaminants do not affect BOD;■ industrial impacts are not only created from direct discharges tolocal water courses; and■ local and regional variations in water chemistry play a role indetermining the ability of an ecosystem to ‘cope’ at differentBOD levels.Indicators developed for the regional or basin scale are mainlyfocused on the identification and evaluation of ‘hot spots’, thepreparation of risk assessments and basin management plans.Indicators are needed to raise awareness and develop consensusamong the different stakeholders and identify priorities for action.Many regional indicators are developed from dedicated datasetsobtained by water monitoring networks. To obtain good statisticsand reliable data for analysis and planning, it is not only necessaryto establish such networks, but also to maintain them so that longtermchanges in water availability and quality can be detected. Thisimplies that ownership of monitoring initiatives established withinthe context of development agency programmes must besuccessfully passed to national or basin water managers.Although planning may be focused at the regional scale, it is atthe local level that the performance of individual enterprises can beinfluenced. Hot spots of water stress identified by the regionalmonitoring described above, may be addressed by reference eitherto international benchmarks, set by consideration of best availabletechniques, or, perhaps more likely for developing countries, byestablishing local ‘relative’ benchmarks based upon existingperformance. This approach is adopted, for example, by the cleanerproduction methodologies used by a number of internationaldevelopment agencies. 3The State of the Resource and IndustryWater quantity and water quality at the global scaleInitial estimates of the industrial water productivity (industrial valueadded per cubic metre of water used) gained by countries in thedifferent incomes classes of the World Development Indicators 2001are given in table 9.1 and shown graphically in figure 9.3. Althoughthere is considerable variation within each class, not least createdby data difficulties described in the previous section, the differentincome groups fall into overlapping – but distinct – fields,particularly when revalorized on a per capita basis. The followingbroad conclusions may be drawn:■ for any given volume of water used by industry, the high-incomeusers derive more value per cubic metre of water used thanlower-income states;■ lower-income states can achieve similar water productivities asdeveloped countries but do so only at significantly smaller totalvolumes of water used by industry;■ as total water consumption by industry increases, waterproductivity appears to fall in each income class; and■ economic growth from ‘low-income’ through ‘lower-middleincome’to ‘upper-middle-income’ countries appears to havebeen achieved largely by additional consumption withoutsignificantly increased water productivity. It may, therefore, belimited by the availability of the resource.Clearly, these conclusions must be treated with caution for thefollowing reasons:■ There is considerable variation within each country income classwith, in some classes, a small number of countries providing aconsiderable proportion of the total economic value.■ There are significantly different industry profiles across thecountries sampled.■ Industry sectors based upon organic raw materials andaddressing local markets may be heavily dependent on water butmay have only limited opportunities for highly geared economicvalue addition.2. Tables 3.5 and 4.2 in World Development Indicators, 2001.3. UNIDO-UNEP National Cleaner Production Centres Programme.