Water scarcity emerging as global threat
Carol
By svar...@iatp.org
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http://www.dawn.com/2002/01/14/ebr16.htm
Water scarcity emerging as global threat
By Yasmin Mustafa
When something so essential for human existence as water becomes scarce, it
should be a matter of urgent and acute concern for all of us.
Nature has struck a balance which must be maintained between resources and
demands. But with the rapid pace of technological advancement, the world
has entered into a highly catastrophic phase from which it may not be easy
to escape. In many areas monstrous constructions have encroached upon the
waterways choking their flow. With the ever-widening gap between population
growth and sources of water, there is an urgent need to give a serious
thought to the present irrigation system.
Irrigation has been the main tool for advancement of societies for
centuries. It has turned many of the earth's war areas into important
crop-producing regions. Egypt's total crop production depends upon the Nile
river or the underground aquifers. Today farming accounts for some 70 per
cent of the global water use.
But with the population explosion all over the world, especially in the
developing countries, irrigation has been badly affected. The world
population has grown from 1.6 billion to more than five billion over the
past 90 years. This has accentuated the problems arising from water
scarcity. And therefore the balancing of water budget is badly needed
for the maintenance of irrigation system.
In several parts of the world, water demands are exceeding the supply
limits. Regional shortage of water forms another growing threat to
agriculture. According to the FAO estimates, only 16 million hectors were
added to the global irrigation based agriculture between 1980 and 1987 -
an average of 2.3 million hectors per year, roughly half the rate of the
1970s.
There are various reasons for this slowdown. These include rapid
urbanization, technological advancement, deforestation, global warming,
decline in economic graph, climatic changes, droughts and floods,
water-logging and salinity, soil conversion, inappropriate handling of the
existing technologies, etc.
Apart from national calamities affecting water supply, poor management and
exploitation of resources are to be also blamed for this situation. Unequal
distribution of water between rich landowners and small farmers, political
agents and their influence, bureaucratic involvement, industrialization,
etc are involved in the emergence of serious problems in agrarian
societies. In many parts of the world, the affluent landowners and
government officials allocate heavy withdrawals from water reservoirs
leaving poor peasants with little water for cultivation of their land.
The lack of basic knowledge and education to fully utilize existing water
technology is also a barrier in water sustainability and decline in
irrigated areas. In some places, surplus use of water destroys crops while
in other parts, water scarcity is so acute that crops simply die. Every
year because of bad planning and faulty management base, large portions of
arable areas turn into wilderness.
Let us have a cursory glances at the problem. We may start with Pakistan
which is faced with acute shortage of both irrigation water and water for
domestic and industrial purposes. According to the Indus River System
Authority [IRSA] estimates, the rabi crop needs around 36.4 million acre
feet of water while the reserve stock is 18.73 maf. The extent of water
shortage is alarming in big cities where water is usually supplied for two
to four hours. Many parts of Karachi, even some posh areas, remain without
water for days together. Tankers are generally hired to meet essential
requirements.
We are also faced with poor management and unequal allocation of water
among the provinces. This has led to serious conflicts among them. In big
cities, industries are the main consumers of water. These include use of
water for hydroelectric power. Such exploitation takes place in most Third
World countries and arises mainly because of mismanagement and degradation
of land. The natural water cycle has been vastly disturbed by unplanned
water system and expanding deforestation.
Egypt depends entirely on the water of the Nile. But the river reached its
lowest level in 1988 owing to low rainfall. While across the Suez Canal,
the situation looks equally grim. Israel, Jordan and Syria get most of
their water from Jordan river basin. The World Bank has predicted that the
present water consumption will surely lead to a terrible situation in the
future and the demand will exceed the limits of supply.
Thus we can easily reach the inescapable conclusion that if universal
planning and programme for the sustainability of growing water demand, all
over the world, is not made, if the unequal distribution continues and if
the international donors continue to overlook their role in developing
water reservoirs, dams and distribution channels in less developed
countries, the existing water crisis will certainly take a new and a more
dangerous turn.
The time may not be far away when water scarcity will emerge as a global
threat to human existence as its shortage has already reached an alarming
level and the regional and local water conflicts may now turn into a
full-fledged water wars. In such a situation, there is an urgent need for a
new water resource development strategy to maintain and balance the future
sustainability of water demands all over the world. As long as the present
system of exploitation and monopolization by big powers over the resources
of poor nations continue, no solution could be reached and no decisions
implemented.