Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

5 1 2 / F I T T I N G T H E P I E C E S T O G E T H E RThe World’s Water Crisis: Fitting the Pieces Togetherseriously polluted. River water quality in the region has seenwidespread deterioration to levels that pose significant risks to healthstandards. Urban populations are among those most affected bylymphatic filariasis. Japanese encephalitis is a burden from east tosouth Asia, its presence strongly linked to flooded ecosystems.The number of undernourished people fell steeply in east Asiaduring the 1990s. Only a small part of the region is expected tocontribute substantially to projected expansions in arable land to2030. The worldwide irrigation expansion is, however, projected tobe among the greatest in south and east Asia and, by 2030, southAsia and the Near East will have reached critical thresholds of wateravailability for agriculture. The proportion of renewable waterresources allocated to irrigation in east Asia is likely to remain farbelow the critical threshold. Asia, and particularly China, has seenthe dominant share of aquaculture development, and this growth isexpected to continue. Benefiting from irrigation, Asia has had widerdiversification in its crop production.Asian countries are constructing many new hydropowerschemes, and the region is set to quadruple its 1995 deployment by2010, primarily through large hydropower. More than 10 percent ofthe region’s hydropower is generated from small schemes, andmicro-hydro installations are widespread, with significant potentialfor further development.Withdrawals for industry are low by global standards, and in theabsence of high value mineral resources, the industrial value addedis low by world standards.Over the past ten years, Asia has experienced nearly one third ofall worldwide water-related (flood and drought) disasters. A total of1.8 billion people were affected (90 percent of all people affectedworldwide). Whereas 80 percent of affected persons in Africa wereimpacted by drought, in Asia 80 percent of affected persons wereimpacted by floods. Deaths exceeded 60,000 over the same tenyears, 98 percent of which were due to flooding: this representsmore than half of all deaths to floods and cyclones worldwide.Economic losses – almost always uninsured – have impactedsignificantly upon national economies and development strategies,and hugely upon social development, with many events affectingmany tens of millions of people on each occasion that they strike.As in Africa, the central government provides most of thefinancing. In common with most other developing regions, Asia hasyet to adopt full cost recovery.Within catchments where water is under stress, placingpressures on intersectoral sharing, agriculture is the dominant sectorthroughout western, central and southern Asia, while industrydominates throughout much of South-East Asia. Most of thecountries of western Asia, the northern subcontinent and mainlandSouth-East Asia share international rivers.Despite the increase in enrolment rates in formal education,educational retention rates and achievement remain poor in manycountries in south Asia. Access to the media remains highly uneven,and the spread of the written press is hampered by lack of financialresources and high illiteracy rates, particularly in southern Asia. Thedigital divide is prevalent throughout Asia.EuropeIn Europe, improved water supply coverage is high, with accessprovided for 97 percent of the population. One hundred percent of theurban population has coverage, compared with 89 percent of the ruralpopulation. In terms of sanitation, 95 percent of the population istotally covered, 99 percent of the urban population and 78 percent ofthe rural population. Those without access to improved water supplyrepresent 2 percent of the global population, and those without accessto improved sanitation represent 1 percent. However, low levels ofreporting in some areas suggest that a cautious approach to drawingconclusions is nonetheless warranted. Only four European countriesreported not having full water supply and sanitation coverage in 2000,all in eastern Europe (Estonia, Hungary, Romania and the RussianFederation). It is predicted that the European population will begin todecrease, especially in rural areas. The greater need to meet watersupply deficiencies rests in eastern Europe.Improvements have been made in reducing water pollution,mostly through stricter controls on industrial discharges and moresophisticated and comprehensive treatment of sewage andstormwater. But a majority of European rivers, particularly in theirmiddle and lower reaches, are in poor ecological condition due tothe impacts of canalization, dams, pollution and altered flowregimes. The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) shouldaccelerate the process of bringing pollution under control. During thetwentieth century, hydropower made a dramatic contribution to theelectricity sector, and most of the prime sites have now been exploitedfor big plants. An important role in achieving European renewableenergy goals can be played by small hydropower resources, especiallyif the economic situation for producers improves and environmentalconstraints decrease. Withdrawals for industry, as a proportion of totalwater use, are among the highest worldwide, notably in central andeastern Europe. Depending on which particular industries dominate anation’s economy, the industrial value added ranges from among thelowest to the highest, spanning three orders of magnitude (betweenUS$0.26/m 3 in Moldova to US$425/m 3 in the United Kingdom).About 12 million people have been affected by floods or droughtsover the past decade, split about evenly between the two. There havebeen nearly 2,000 deaths from floods, approximately 0.5 percent of allequivalent deaths worldwide. Most economic losses are covered byinsurance and reinsurance, and many personal losses by personalinsurance policies. The European reinsurance industry has faced heavyburdens from losses experienced elsewhere around the world.