A Special Report on Water : The Economist, May 22, 2010

In this issue of the Economist, nine articles delve into multiple aspects of water issues from "Enough is not Enough, Business begins to stir, Every drop counts, Making farmers Matter, China's peasants Look to the Skies, The Ups and Downs of Dams, Trade and Conserve, To the last Drop, and A Glass half Empty. The topics cover population and water demand growth, the physical attributes of water that make management difficult, the debate over water as an asset or a human right, the disparity of quality, availability, and consumption, the differences in investments in water treatment, sanitation, and infrastructure maintenance worldwide, the efficacy of desalination, water conflicts, administration, and policies for the future.

How nations handle the partnership between public water needs and commercial enterprises varies by the attitudes within countries, experiences, and, to some degree, consumer perceptions. According to the essay, Business begins to stir, "the ration of water use to GDP has declined dramatically in many rich and middle-income countries in recent decades, which suggests that industry can use water much more productively if it tries" (p. 8). Water use by Unilever, Coca Cola, Nestle, and other firms demonstrate industry's efforts to reduce water consumption. A monitor, The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, reports online environmental water violations worldwide. Another group, Ceres, complemented this reporting with a document that stated, "the vast majority of leading companies in water-intensive industries have weak management and disclosure of water-related risks and opportunities" (p. 9). The author continued, "Less than half of electric-power companies surveyed even provided data on total water withdrawals" (p. 9).

Of the potable water producing methods, the series of articles cited desalination, "computerized gates that control canal water, fancy flow meters or huge machines that sprinkle water sparingly from rotating pipes . . . technology that measures evapotranspiration field by field" (p. 9). More sophisticated methods include imagery from Landsat satellites orbiting the Earth, used to calculate the consumption of water. When this data gets transmitted to a farmer's mobile phone, he or she has information to decide when and where to cultivate land, increasing water efficiency. Improvements in farming, however, do not off-set the depletion of aquifers, due to over pumping in the American southwest, India, and other locations.

A nation's response to water deficiencies depends on its ethos, according to the author. China, ruled by engineers and the military, favor the construction of canals, dikes, storage ponds, and dams. India, with an entrenched bureaucracy,  resorts to water management by mid-level administrators. Africa, for the most part, defers to professionals to manage its water systems. The author of the article, The Ups and Downs of Dams, recounts the folly of large dam and elaborate water structures worldwide-- the Aswan dam in Egypt, the Bhakhra dam in India, and the serpentine system of canals in California.

As to water administration, the author of the article, Trade and Conserve, observed that "countries with sustainable systems all use water rights of some kind that involve the allocation of supply by volume" (p. 16). Such a framework allows transactions, the trading and marketing of water. He acknowledges, however, that even a system of water rights does not solve the problem of water shortages. Furthermore, countries without a water rights system have found it difficult to establish one. Israel administers its water from a central authority that issues permits, determining price and use, an alternative to the free-market construct. The question remains of how to value water among its myriad of applications environmental, consumptive, and non-consumptive.

Water conflicts happened during ancient times and currently. The author of "To the Last Drop" attest that although nations have engaged in water conflicts, no water wars have occurred--an arguable point. Relating intra-national tensions, the author mentioned China's internal South-North disputes over water; the contentions within the American southwest; and the conflict in Sudan as "partly attributable to the chronic scarcity of water in western Sudan" (p. 17). Internationally, the search for resources outside national boundaries has caused concern, "China has plans for more dams. It is hyperactive in the world of water . . . building dams in Africa and Pakistan, looking for land in Mozambique and the Philippines, diverting rivers for its own purposes. Neighboring states, notably India, are uneasy" (p. 19). River-basin cooperation between countries offers a peaceful alternative to conflict.

The solutions to worldwide water shortages encompass engineering, behavioural, political, commercial, personal, and financial changes. Projecting that population growth will stabilize in 2050, the author predicted that this reality might lead to a water supply and demand balance along with "democratic self-management among informed farmers" (p. 20).  Improvements and maintenance of existing water infrastructure would have to coincide with these mandatory changes.

References

Booz Allen Hamilton (2007)