Sister water

Publish date 22-09-2021

by Sandro Calvani

The wars for water have already begun. In Syria it was the scarcity of water that triggered the first internal tensions and migrations in 2011, which then broke out in the most serious conflict of our time. Adequate availability of drinking water is essential for the availability of food and for health and therefore essential for the sustainable development of just and peaceful societies. The pressure on water resources is increasing everywhere due to rapid demographic and socioeconomic growth and unsustainable water uses.

Although a significant portion of the earth's surface is covered with water, only a tiny fraction of it is available for life sustenance; the rest is salt or frozen water in glaciers or polar ice caps. Out of the world total of freshwater resources, Asia has the highest share (about 33%), Latin America and the Caribbean (32%), North America (13%), Europe (12%), Sub-Saharan Africa (9%) ), Middle East and North Africa (1%). In addition, the world takes around 9% of fresh water every year to meet the needs of the agricultural sector (60%), industrial (22%) and domestic (18%).
Lower-middle-income countries like India use 90% of water for agriculture, while high-income countries like the United States use 46% for industry, 14% for domestic use and 40 % for agriculture and livestock breeding.

Water is a global resource without borders. Among the most pressing goals for sustainable development is the entire water cycle, from drinking water to basic sanitation, including water quality and wastewater management, efficient use, integrated management, protection and restoration of water-related ecosystems.
Waste in one corner of the planet damages availability in another. For example, many Italian cities have public fountains and public taps that are always open. Rome has more than two thousand, and almost all drinking water is lost in rainwater drains. The Italian water network manages over eight billion cubic meters of water every year, of which more than three billion are wasted due to leaks.

Fourteen of the 33 countries likely to be most water stressed in 2040 are in Asia and the Middle East, including nine considered extremely stressed with a rating of 5.0 out of 5.0: Bahrain, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Lebanon. Asia and the Middle East - the world's least safe areas for water rights - draw heavily on groundwater and desalinated seawater and face exceptional water-related challenges for the foreseeable future.


Sandro Calvani
NP May 2021

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