Monday, 23 March 2015 00:00
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Every great civilization was born on the banks of a river. Water is inextricably linked with prosperity and development however this causal link results in increasing pressure on water resources in the face of growing populations and their resultant requirements – from basic consumption to hygiene, agriculture, industry, energy and the environment. Indeed there is no sphere of human activity which does not require water.
It should therefore come as no great shock that if current patterns of demand and supply hold, our planet faces a 40% shortfall in water supplies by 2030 resulting in a “collapse in our global socioeconomic system” according to the findings of the United Nation’s World Water Development Report.
By 2050, global water demand is projected to increase to 55%, mainly due to demands from manufacturing, thermal electricity generation and domestic use – after all, more water is required to manufacture a car than to fill an above ground swimming pool.
Put simply, the situation at a global scale is dire. While Sri Lanka is blessed with bountiful water resources, here too there have been difficulties in providing adequate supplies while the effects of climate change have further exacerbated the problem.
With 2014 officially going on record as the single warmest year since recordkeeping started in the 1800s, Sri Lanka too was in the grip of a crippling drought, particularly in the districts of Polonnaruwa and Moneragala. Acres of crops were lost while thousands of families were cut off from access to the national grid. Hydroelectric power output suffered and had to be replaced with more costly thermal generation, in turn leading to a spike in electricity costs, all of which had a negative impact at the macroeconomic level. It would therefore be naive to believe that Sri Lanka would remain untouched by increasing global water scarcity.
However, prophecy is a risky business and with informed course correction now, this bleak future need not necessarily come to pass. The findings of the World Water Development Report are no doubt a source for deep concern but the report itself places great emphasis on a brighter vision for our collective future.
“In a sustainable world that is achievable in the near future, water and related resources are managed in support of human wellbeing and ecosystem integrity in a robust economy. Sufficient and safe water is made available to meet every person’s basic needs, with healthy lifestyles and behaviours easily upheld through reliable and affordable water supply and sanitation services, in turn supported by equitably extended and efficiently managed infrastructure,” the report envisions.
How to achieve such a future? By valuing water in all its forms, by treating wastewater as a resource for energy, nutrients and freshwater for reuse; by developing harmony between human settlements and the natural water cycle and ecosystems that support it and by implementing measures to reduce vulnerability to water-related disasters.
In essence, the growing chorus for sustainability must be carried over into practical measures and it must be done before the real crisis hits us. Many organisations and individuals are stepping up to this challenge but for the time being many more are sustainable in name only.
Water is an essential prerequisite to organic life as we know it, to civilisation as we know it. Recent discoveries have shown that contrary to our long-held belief that water is a precious resource only found on Earth, it is in fact far more plentiful, from trace amounts to entire oceans, being discovered in at least 23 locations in our own solar system. How tragic then that we would risk our very existence squabbling over a resource that is not even, relatively speaking, a rare one.
