The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security - Unu-inweh ...

As former U.S. President Mr. Bill Clinton pointed out, we should be chipping away at the problem of the world’s poor and
to do so, we should start with water. In addressing water issues, we address economic and public health woes while also
advancing capacity to adapt to climate change and thus reducing the pressures of climate-related migration.
The UN Millennium Development Goals strive to halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to
safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. While advancements have been made on the water target, progress
on the sanitation target is lagging far behind. Solidarity needs to be shown with those needing assistance in attaining
basic sanitation systems. Mr. Clinton offered that it would not take a lot of money in relative terms for the world to show
solidarity in addressing the world’s water supply and sanitation shortfall.
Dr. Gro Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and principal author of the Report of the World Commission on
Environment and Development: Our Common Future, widely known as the Brundtland Report on global sustainability,
observed that on the matter of universal water supply, governments have not properly responded to what to some
appears as a contradiction between the fundamental human right to water and appropriate pricing of water supply and
sanitation services. We have to be clear, she said, that governments at different levels are responsible for promoting the
fundamental right to water, while at the same time introducing appropriate pricing for water services. It cannot be one
or the other: sustainable water management demands both.
It was noted that governments often fall into the vicious circle of demanding that water be priced so low or even given
away because of the perception that it is a basic human need. Governments then fall short of meeting that fundamental
need because they can’t afford investment in maintenance and replacement of water supply and sanitation infrastructure.
There are cities around the world, especially, but not exclusively, in underdeveloped and developing countries that on
average lose more than 40% of domestic water supply due to leaky networks.
InterAction Council members expressed amazement at the fact that some countries – and often the most needy countries
– are prepared to spend a great deal of resources to expand domestic supplies while at the same time tolerating leakage
rates that are often 50% or higher when, for a fraction of the cost, better infrastructure maintenance would go a long
way towards alleviating water shortages. Because of this problem, the poorest people in the world, for example in sub-
Saharan Africa or southern Asia, may actually end up paying more for water on a per-litre basis than those who live in
the world’s most prosperous countries. In this regard, today’s water crisis is not as much a crisis of affordability as it is a
crisis of governance.
Problems associated with the appropriate valuation of water services are not confined to the developing world. Even
among affluent nations, efficiency of water use varies dramatically between countries and even within households in the
same country. Household water efficiency ranges, for example, from more than 1,000 litres per person per day in parts of
Canada to less than 100 litres per person per day in Munich, Germany. From this, it was observed that wealth and availability
of water supplies do not appear to be deciding factors in determining individual daily water supply requirements. Such
inefficiency, however, is no longer acceptable.
Furthermore, as global energy demands rise, the energy sector is being placed into greater competition with other water
users and sectors. This will impact regional energy reliability and energy security. Until our thinking about water and
energy can be integrated, sustainability will continue to elude us.
As pointed out by the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, everything we are counting upon to
overcome food supply shortfalls, to ensure energy security, and to adapt to climate change effects involves more water.
Citing the success Singapore has had in addressing its own water supply issues, Mr. Goh Chok Tong urged members of the
InterAction Council to recognize the responsibility of each national government in responding to how important water
will be to our global future.
Nowhere is the water crisis as imminent as in the Middle East, where several states contend over the use of the Euphrates
and Jordan river basins. Joint efforts will be vital in making water-sharing part of a peaceful Middle East. However, the
effects of the water crisis reach far beyond the Middle East and the developing world. Former U.S. President Mr. Bill
Clinton observed that a sustainable world will not be possible unless water contamination becomes better regulated and
the effects of agricultural run-off are globally controlled and diminished.
154 The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security Issue