World Water Week Daily Friday 2 September, 2016

FRIDAY: WORLD WATER WEEK DAILY
Simi Kamal
FOCUS ON WATER SHORTAGES
IN BIG CITIES
Water scarcity is not only a problem for
arid rural areas, it is also very much a
reality in large cities around the world. In
the three-part seminar yesterday, Water
for sustainable and inclusive cities: how
to induce change?, a series of case studies
and panel discussions shed light on water
issues in an urban context.
During the closing session, Simi Kamal
from the Karachi Water Partnership painted
a very clear picture of the problem when she
said that in some parts of her hometown in
Pakistan, with a population of 24 million,
a litre of water costs more than a litre of oil,
due to poor supply.
In terms of solutions, much of the closing
discussion centred upon the need for
proper leadership and inclusive partnerships
including all stakeholders.
“Then again, the only really important
stakeholders here are in fact future generations,”
Célia Blauel, deputy mayor of Paris, said.
NUMBER OF THE DAY
WANTED: BOLD CORPORATES
TO HELP INTRODUCE
UNIVERSAL WASH
Corporates were called on to apply their
“political clout and marketing expertise” to
support the introduction of universal
WASH during the Scaling up WASH action
in company supply chains: promoting sustainable
growth session yesterday.
“There’s an opportunity for progressive
corporates to align themselves with many other
actors that are arguing for system-wide change
through proper investment in WASH at national,
regional, and international levels,” Nick
Hepworth of Water Witness International said.
While praising progress made by some
companies, he reminded participants that basic
WASH standards had been in place under an international
ILO agreement for the past 54 years.
“WASH issues are systemic, they’re about
a lack of government investment […] so
fiddling about at the edges with corporates
and supply chains might not be the most
productive response.”
The system-wide focus was picked up by Lisa
Hook, from clothing group Gap who, although
warning of “issue fatigue” – with companies
and other actors often struggling to prioritize
water over other issues – said: “Governance is
important. WASH is a systems-wide issue, and
will need systems-wide solutions.”
INTERACTIVE POSTERS PROVIDE SNAPSHOT OF THE WEEK
Throughout World Water Week, an interactive
poster exhibition has provided visitors
with selected content from the Week’s
programme. This was the scene yesterday,
as delegates learnt about a variety of programmes,
including water planning in the
US, a ‘sponge city’ in Kenya, and wastewater
reuse in Sri Lanka.
10
10
LITRES OF WATER ARE REQUIRED TO PRODUCE ONE
SHEET OF PAPER.
SOURCE: UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
“There is
nothing
like a good
crisis to
bring about
change”
Neil Macleod,
private water consultant
SALTWATER THREAT
TO COASTAL
GROUNDWATER
Saltwater intrusion into
groundwater is becoming an
increasingly urgent problem
in many parts of the world,
something which was covered
in depth during a seminar
yesterday morning.
The problem in coastal
areas is often that the natural
boundary between seawater
and the freshwater that sits
under land is compromised
by the inland pumping of
freshwater.
Since a large – and growing
– proportion of the world’s
population lives in coastal
areas, relying heavily on
groundwater as a source of
freshwater, the issue of saltwater
intrusion needs urgent
attention, the speakers at the
seminar argued.
They called for better,
and preferably dedicated
groundwater management,
where rainfall and salt levels
are carefully monitored, so
that pumping can be adjusted
accordingly. In some places
horizontal wells, where water
is only drawn from the top
level of the groundwater, has
proven efficient, but to compensate
during dry periods,
systems for rainwater harvesting
and recycled waste water
also have to be explored, the
panellists concluded.