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Actions Needed to Control Water Usage to Meet Global Demands

January 10, 2010

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An overview of water scarcity and global demand based on the World Economic Forum Water Initiative report.

By Jessica Simmons, Produce More Conserve More staff

One of the most pressing unsolved challenges the world faces relates to water—essentially, having enough of it to meet the needs of a growing global population.

Almost three-fourths of the globe is covered with water, yet only a small percentage of it is clean. With the global population projected to exceed 8 billion by 2025, it’s critical that we find new and innovative ways to meet our water demands. Failing to do so may result in large-scale agricultural, energy, environmental and economic crises.

In January 2009, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Water Initiative released a study — “The Bubble is Close to Bursting” – that forecasts in detail the many facets of water scarcity, and the consequences of failing to solve this challenge.

Water scarcity weakens crop yields and energy production

The WEF report indicates that by 2025, water scarcity could affect annual global crop yields such that we will lose the equivalent of the entire grain crops of India and the U.S. combined; this is equivalent to 30 percent of the world’s cereal consumption. The report also states that at the same time, food demand is expected to grow anywhere from 70 to 90 percent by 2050.

Without a doubt, water is the single most important resource needed to grow a crop. What we are up against is clear: if we are unable to identify new means to improve water utilization, we will face severe challenges in producing the crops needed to feed an ever-growing population.

Agriculture isn’t the only sector that relies on water to thrive. Increasingly, water is relied upon to produce energy. As the report highlights, energy production accounts for about 39 percent of all water withdrawals in the U.S. and 31 percent of water withdrawals in the EU. And while only 3 percent is actually used for production of energy, the competition for access to water between energy and other sectors will intensify over the next two decades. According to the report, water requirements for energy production are expected to grow by as much as 165 percent in the U.S. between 2000 and 2025 and 130 percent in the EU between 2000 and 2030.

Melting glaciers diminish available resources

Water isn’t the only issue—the report notes that the world’s glaciers are being depleted as well. Glaciers act as huge water banks, with approximately two percent of the Earth’s water stored in them. The glaciers of the Himalayas and Tibet alone feed seven of the world’s greatest rivers, providing water to more than 2 billion people. These glacial banks are disappearing at an accelerating rate. Most analysts suggest, and as the WEF report confirms, the majority of them will disappear by 2100 given current climate trends. Furthermore, 70 major rivers around the world are close to being totally drained in order to supply water for irrigation systems and reservoirs.

Once they are gone, our water banks cannot be recovered. And as reliance on water from these banks continues to increase for agriculture and energy production, it is likely that we will have scarce resources available to meet future needs.

Technology can help protect the water supply

However, despite water scarcity, diminishing glaciers, and other situations that pose potential problems for the world’s water supply, the report mentions several “glimmers of hope” like the development of new crop and irrigation technologies. “Engineering crops to deal with changing conditions must play a role,” says the WEF report. The report also suggests that adopting new irrigation technologies such as localized systems can help with evaporation, and mentions the need to examine current irrigation costs and systems and improve these to make them more efficient.

Additionally, Ban-Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, stressed the need for not only the adoption of new technologies but the importance of strengthening global policies regarding water. During his opening remarks at the water forecast session of the WEF he stated, “The problem is that we have no coordinated global management authority in the United Nations system or the world at large. There is no overall responsibility, accountability or vision for how to address the related problems of climate change, agricultural stress and water technology. This is where you come in.”

Indeed, we must all work together to find solutions that can help us produce more food for a growing population while conserving our natural resources.

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