World Water Crisis is Worsening Claims International Panel
‘There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water so badly that billions of people – and the environment – suffer badly.” World Water Vision Report.
With the current state of affairs, correcting measures can still be taken to avoid the crisis getting worse. There is an increasing awareness that our freshwater resources are limited and need to be protected both in terms of quantity and quality.
This water challenge affects not only the water community, but also decision-makers and every human being. “Water is everybody’s business,” was one of the key messages of the 2nd World Water Forum.
Whatever the use of freshwater (agriculture, industry, domestic use), huge saving of water and improving water management is possible. Almost everywhere, water is wasted, and as long as people are not facing water scarcity, they believe access to water is an obvious and natural thing.
With urbanization and changes in lifestyle, water consumption is bound to increase. However, changes in food habits, for example, may reduce the problem, such as knowing that growing 1 kg. of potatoes requires only 100 litres of water, whereas 1 kg. of beef requires 13,000 litres.
Water therefore should be recognized as a great priority.
One of the main objectives of the World water Council is to increase awareness of the water issue. Decision-makers at all levels must be implicated. One of the goals is to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
To that aim, several measures need to be taken:-
Guarantee the right to water
Decentralise the responsibility for water
Develop know-how at the local level
Increase and improve financing
Evaluates and monitor water resources
As far as transboundary conflicts are concerned, regional economic development and cultural preservation can all be strengthened by states cooperating over water. Instead of a trend towards war, water management can be viewed as a trend towards cooperation and peace.