Solutions to Water Scarcity

As for any scarce commodity, demand for freshwater can be brought under control through greater efficiency in its use. Technology will play an important role, for example in recycling of household and industrial wastewater. Effective water management also requires much greater coordination of policy-making, both within countries and internationally.

The Future of Water – Windhoek in Namibia offers a glimpse of solutions to water scarcity that must become the “new normal”
from Quartz

Agriculture is the vital sector. In its report, The State of Food and Agriculture 2020, the UN warns that the goal of zero hunger in the world can be achieved “only by ensuring more productive and sustainable use of freshwater and rainwater in agriculture, which accounts for more than 70 percent of global water withdrawals.”

The search for water scarcity solutions differs greatly between richer and poorer countries – the former prefer to tackle the dysfunctional economics of water whilst the latter strive to align poverty reduction with sustainable water objectives.

Solutions in Poorer Countries

Household poverty reduction is a high priority for most of the world’s low income countries. As most poor households are engaged in subsistence farming, the optimum strategy for water scarcity is to align rural economic development strategies with greater efficiencies in water use.

In Asia the challenge is to reduce demand through more efficient irrigation and to increase supply by capturing more rainfall, either in aquifers or by simple harvesting technologies. Most irrigation is currently performed by indiscriminate flooding of fields, highly inefficient and wasteful. Modern drip irrigation technology can reduce water use by around 50% and increase yields through its targeted application. Introducing crops that require less water than rice and wheat is often a challenging option for small farmers but does deliver a lower threshold of demand.

Groundwater recharge requires maintenance of neglected storage tanks and drainage systems. Aquifers are resilient to the effects of climate change, thereby rewarding investment in their sustainability.

In sub-Saharan Africa the problems are very different. Nearly all of the farming is rain-fed but only a tiny percentage of rainfall is captured for the purpose. Soil moisture is often lost through land degradation caused by poor farming practices and deforestation.

The solution for water scarcity lies in smarter farming methods which sustain ecosystems, integrating improved crop yields with protection of water and forest resources. A low input approach known as agro-ecology has attracted particular interest.

Water-energy-food nexus – Africa needs new business models that integrate water, energy and food to achieve sustainable development
from RES4Africa Foundation

Solutions in Richer Countries

Technology can contribute to balancing supply and demand for freshwater in more advanced economies. For example, a water efficiency label for household appliances, enforced by regulation, is a recognised technology solution to demand management in consumer societies.

Are we heading towards a water crisis? – a brief summary of five potential solutions to global water scarcity
from BBC News

A similar quantitative approach focuses on the amount of water consumed throughout the manufacturing supply chain. The figures are startling: 140 litres of freshwater are required for a single cup of coffee, 6,000 litres for a pair of denim jeans and more than 15,000 litres for a kilo of beef. This invisible input has become known as “virtual water”, opening up potential for addressing water scarcity through pricing and transparency.

Richer countries are acutely aware that failure to price water as a scarce environmental resource is one of the fault lines of contemporary market economics. Nonetheless, progress towards market-based solutions to water scarcity is very slow. Few politicians are prepared to contemplate risk of cultural change on this scale. The exception might be the Middle East region, where extreme methods of demand management of freshwater are accepted as part of everyday life.

Supply management for the most water scarce countries in the Middle East indeed looks to the ultimate solution of desalinisation. Whilst production by this means has become more efficient, desalinisation remains a controversial technology on account of its very high energy requirement and its by-product of brine which may pollute ocean ecosystems.

Water Governance Solutions

Across richer and poorer countries alike, policymaking that reconciles the demands of competing users of water, and anticipates the impact of policy on other sectors, rarely meets the challenge. Water resources are susceptible to tension between local and national political interests, resulting in misguided subsidies and other inconsistent policies. Lack of enforceable regulation in India lies at the heart of the country’s groundwater crisis.

Governments are accordingly encouraged to develop national plans which integrate their policies on poverty reduction, food security, energy security and climate adaptation so that actions necessary for water security are coherent. Described as “integrated water resources management,” this discipline features in assessments of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal relating to water.

Harry Verhoeven of University of Oxford suggests that resistance to integrating water resources management in many developing countries may be attributable to the special interests of political elites
from OCP Policy Center

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more Water Scarcity briefings (updated May 2021)
Water Cycle
Causes of Water Scarcity
Climate Change and Water Scarcity
Sustainable Development Goal for Water
Water Wars
Source material and useful links

Recent news and opinion about Water Scarcity

Middle East’s groundwater: Will it soon run out?

16/8/2023: As rivers dry up and rainfall declines, water stored underground is more important than ever. Many Middle Eastern countries already have regulations about water use but there is a lack of enforcement to regulate water abstraction for agriculture.

Source: DW

Water – a weapon of war or a tool for peace?

11/7/2023: The recent Kakhovka dam disaster in Ukraine is a painful reminder of how destruction of water infrastructure can cause enormous suffering in times of war. Researchers who have studied Yemen, Libya, and Syria say that attacks on civilian and environmental infrastructure have become more common in the past decade.

Source: Inter Press Service

Water security lags behind in UN environmental protection

25/3/2023: The UN’s first water conference in nearly 50 years claims to have secured over $300 billion of promises of global action. But there is no legally binding international agreement to protect water resources and no UN special envoy.

Source: Devex

UN warns of’imminent global water crisis

22/3/2023: The UN has released the World Water Development Report 2023, painting a grim picture of rising global water scarcity. It finds that about 10% of the global population lives in countries where water stress is considered "high or critical."

Source: DW

Access to safe drinking water requires increased investment

24/10/2022: The State of the World’s Drinking Water report notes that over 2 billion people have gained access to safe drinking water in the past two decades. However, one-quarter of the world’s population has been left behind and governments must dramatically increase political commitment and quadruple investment in drinking water.

Source: World Health Organization

Countries must step up efforts to protect freshwater sources

25/8/2022: As events marking World Water Week continue in Stockholm, countries are urged to do more to adapt to the cascading impacts of the climate crisis on freshwater ecosystems, with increasingly frequent and intense dry periods interspersed with floods and extreme precipitation.

Source: UN Environment Programme

Ethiopia expands Renaissance Dam production

11/8/2022: Ethiopia has activated the second turbine of the Grand Renaissance Dam, even as Egypt protested that dispute resolutions relating to the dam remain pending. The dam on the Blue Nile should improve access to electricity in Ethiopia which is currently just under 45 percent.

Source: The East African

The Mekong delta’s transboundary water problems

30/4/2022: The fragmentation of the Mekong River due to the construction of large-scale hydropower dams illustrates the inability of downstream states to shape the Mekong Agreement of 1995 into regional aims, rather than centred around national interests. The Mekong River is the lifeblood of countries in the region .

Source: East Asia Forum

Freshwater planetary boundary oversteps the line

27/4/2022: Humanity’s modification of the water cycle has pushed the world further beyond a safe operating space for continued life on Earth, say scientists. Water is the sixth boundary to be transgressed, out of the nine identified by the Planetary Boundaries Framework, first published in 2009.

Source: Mongabay

Worrying insights from assessment of water security in Africa

6/4/2022: Only 29 African countries have made progress in water security over the past three to five years. Twenty-five have made none. The UN’s concept of water security encompasses various criteria and more effort is needed to establish global standards for data and assessment.

Source: The Conversation

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