PLANET EARTH:
WFH REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE WATER
by Steven G. Herber

The United States, on the whole, is considered one of the more water-wealthy nations on earth. But most of the rest of the world is not so fortunate, and even in the US, there are areas approaching a crisis situation. Both population and per capita demand rise steadily while the supply of available water remains constant, or even decreases due to pollution and environmental degradation. Water resources are not evenly distributed worldwide and there is intense competition for them. Rainfall, watersheds, lakes, rivers and aquifers do not honor national boundaries, often leading to dispute and sometimes outright conflict. We who are blessed with water abundance for the moment, however, can not much longer lounge in complacency and insularity. We are a global community, and if we begin to act now, we can help avert a coming water crisis of global proportions.

Only 3% or less (WA p4) (2.5 to 3% - Nat?l Geog. 9/02 map sup; 2.5% - NWF ?97 & UNH p35) of the water on the planet is fresh, more than two thirds of which is tied up in glaciers and ice caps, with a tiny portion of the remainder frozen underground as permafrost. There is six times more water in the atmosphere than all the rivers on earth (NG map sup). There is 75 times more fresh water underground in aquifers than in all surface lakes, rivers and all atmospheric water combined (NG map sup). Most of this groundwater, however, is hard to reach or inaccessible (NG ?02 p17).

The vast majority of US citizens are among the 20% of the world?s population who have potable water flowing from taps and flush toilets in their homes (AWAKE p6) (33% - TO p10 & DS p75) (only about 2% of US homes have no running water ? TO p154; 95.4% of Americans have indoor toilets ? TO p154). In contrast, between 1.2 (also NG p9) and at least 1.5 billion people or more lack access to a minimally adequate supply of clean dinking water (TO p12). Twice that number, fully half the world?s population, do not have adequate sanitation facilities (several). (1.2b/2.4b ? ?02 WaterDrops, 1.2b says Zeid - ?98 BFP, 1b/2.5b acc. to UN 2000 est. ? SA p41, 1.1b/40% - WHO 2000 est. ? WA p7, 1.2b/3b ? ?99 CARE, 1.5b/3b French Summit ? UN (?), 2.9b without adequate sanitation according to a 1997 estimate ? AWAKE p6) As a result, 12 (5 to 10 ? BFP) million people per year die of water-related diseases (E Mag p32), 10 million of them children (TO p153) (12 million, mostly women & children ? E Mag p32). Of these, children are dying at the rate of 9,500 per day of water-borne diseases or water-starvation by UNICEF conservative estimates (other estimates are double that number) (TO p9) (eight per second -  E Mag p32). (10 to 20,000 people/day acc. To the Pacific Inst. for Studies in Development ? UNH; UN 2000 est. says 10 to 20k/day - SA; 3m/yr WA p4, 4m people per year diarrheal diseases, 3.2 million of them children ? TO p9; 2k per day? ? WHO) Eighty percent of all diseases in developing countries are water-borne (AWAKE p6 & TO p148), such as typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis, cholera, schistosomiasis and giardia. And one third of all deaths in the developing world are due to water-borne diseases (AWAKE p5). Some countries have adequate supply, but very little of it is potable, such as in Bolivia (TO p78-79).

In addition to the problems of availability and potability, is the issue of degree of accessibility. An average African woman, for example, walks more than 3 ½ miles each day for water? The jug she carries has an average weight of 44 pounds (Las Vegas Sun 11/29/03) (5 gallons of water weighs 41.5 lbs., 8.3 lbs per gallon). In Africa, many women (not the men) spend as much as six hours per day fetching often polluted water (AWAKE p6). This represents an enormous investment of time and energy added to a daily routine of a woman already enormously overburdened with work. Often children are delegated to take over this task, spending their time hauling water instead of going to school.

Population growth has been the major reason for the rise in water resource problems rapidly approaching crisis levels. Greater demands on resources have resulted in deforestation, which changes climate and leads to lower rainfall and dropping water tables. More people means greater pollution of existing supplies and higher demand on both surface and subsurface supplies that remain. The world?s population is projected to double to 12 billion people in as little as 40 years, according to an estimate by the Population Institute (TO p4 & 161), or as much as 90 years, depending on the estimate (TO p4). (9b by 2050 ? NG p9; 3b more by 2050 ? WA p37; 8b by 2025 ? NWF & Abbugao acc. to the Asian Development Bank; doubling in 20 to 30 years - NWF; double by 2050 - DS p75)  This is what we can expect even though ?approximately 44% of the world?s population now lives in countries that have a fertility rate at or below the replacement level? and on average the worldwide birthrate is declining (TO p161), thanks in large part to family planning programs (TO p163). And per capita water consumption is rising twice as fast as the world?s population (TO p4) (in the 20th century - E Mag p32). With supplies remaining constant (7,925 quadrillion gallons available freshwater in rivers, lakes and aquifers ? ?92 Der Speigel p75) or even decreasing due to pollution and environmental degradation, it doesn?t take a math wizard to deduce there is trouble ahead.

At this time there are 26 nations with moderate to severe water shortages now, according to Sandra Postel?s book, Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity (DN ?93). There are 29 countries currently (2000) under water stress according to the World Meteorological Organization, which will rise to 34 by 2025 by their estimate (Abbugao). (65 nations with serious water shortages by 2025 according to the British publication People and the Planet  ? TO p6; 35 nations with severe water shortages by 2020 ? Top8; there are 22 nations with severe water shortages now and 80 considered serious acc. to the World Bank ? TO p60?80 nations severe by 2018 ? TO p64). Moderate stress is defined as using over 20% of available water resources, serious stress is when using 40% or more (UNH p34). ?The World Bank estimates that eighty nations have water shortages severe enough to retard agricultural production? (TO p13). In other terms, there are currently 2 billion people on the planet living under conditions of moderate water stress and ½ billion under severe stress according to a 1997 UN study, which accessed the situation country by country (UNH p34) (according to the UN, 2.7b people with severe water shortage by 2025 ? NG p9; 1b water-stressed now & 3b chronic by 2025 acc to ?97 est ? NWF; .3b in severe water stress 1998 and 3b by 2025 ? TO p4; ½ to 3b in water-stressed areas in 25 years ? SA p51; 3b water-stressed now ? SA p42). However, a newer study conducted by a UNH professor which divided the world up into 60,000 30 mile square cells, suggests that really there are 2b under severe stress (UNH p34). Therefore, it is probably accurate that at least one third of the earth?s population live under conditions of moderate or severe water stress now, according to the Stockholm Foundation (AWAKE p5), and this is projected to rise to 2/3 by 2025(?). (according to a World Resources Institute 2003 estimate, 2.3b mod or severe now - E Mag p32; 3b chronic by 2025 ? NWF) In 1950, there were no nations with severe water shortages (AWAKE p7). In contrast, one projection says that in 20 years, 65 to 80 nations will face severe water shortages (TO?) (40% of the world population ? SA p42). The fact that population growth tends to be highest in the driest regions makes this even more problematic (WA p4). Also, the number of urban dwellers is projected to rise to 5b by 2025 (SA p46). Total freshwater withdrawn from all sources has increased nine times since 1900 (SA p42). In the last 100 years water use per person has only doubled, and agriculture is mainly responsible for the remaining increase (SA p43). Humans now use greater than 50% of accessible renewable freshwater runoff, and this could rise to 70% by 2025 (WA p8). Eighty nations now are limited in agricultural production by water shortages according to the World Bank (TO p13).

The US has the highest annual water use per capita in the world (525,000g according to 1990 estimate ? HMDWDWU). This is more than twice the world average (UNH p35). (worldwide average per capita use estimated at 450 g/day or approximately 165,000 g/year ? UNH p34) Compare this to a figure of 72,000g in Nicaragua, for example (HMDWDYU?). (The average American ?uses 150gpd compared to 50 for Europeans and just 7.5 for Africans? ? BFP) In the US, freshwater withdrawal is approximately 1,300g per day per person, according to the USGS (UNH p35). We use one third of all flowing water in this country every day (Der Speigel ?92  p77). Aid organizations have been quite successful in their efforts to bring safe and potable water to third world communities, but the rate at which they are doing that still is outpaced by population growth (WHO 2000 analysis ? WA p7) (86 million added per year ? NWF). Roughly, on average worldwide, this breaks down to 10% of total in residential use, and 90% in industry and agriculture (25% / 65% - AWAKE; 10 to 15 / 85 to 90% - TO p85; 70% for ag ? NWF; 10/90% - HMDWDWU?) in this country. Worldwide 10% household, 20% industry and 70% agricultural (NG p14) (agriculture alone takes as much as 90% in some developing countries ? TO p13). Total water use in the US is 124 trillion gallons per year according to a 1995 USGS estimate (EBN). The average household uses 146,000g/yr (42% indoors  and 58% outdoors) (EBN). The average person in the industrial world uses approximately 1,800g/day (657,000/yr) (DS p77). Households on public water systems use an average of about 75% more water than those on private wells (350gpd vs 200gpd) (HMDWDWU?). To keep one person healthy requires 5g of safe water per day (drinking, bathing, cooking, sanitation) according to CARE, yet some must survive on as little as 1.5gpd (CARE) (7,500/year including food production ? TO p10).

Competition for global water resources is fierce. The demand is so heavy that the waters of several major rivers no longer even reach the sea all or most of the year (SA p46) (the Colorado ? TO p22 in the US, the Ganges, Indus, Amu Dar?ya, Syr Dar?ya and Yellow in Asia ? WA p9, and perhaps followed soon by the Nile in Africa). Most of the demand is due to agriculture as a result of the green revolution. The US alone, for example, takes 13.7 billion gallons per day (NG p27). Because of diversion of water from inlet rivers to the Aral Sea, once the fourth largest lake in the world, has now only 13% of its former inflow (2/3 of former volume) (WA p5). For the same reason, Lake Chad, once the fourth largest lake in Africa, has shrunk to 1/20th or its original size since the 1960?s (UNH p36 & NG map sup). Even our own Great Lakes, the world?s largest freshwater system is now under a similar threat (NG p34-51). There are over 250 river basins in the world (over half the earth?s land area) that are shared by at least two countries (SA p44 & TO p8) (120 ?DS) (?,,,there are 215 international rivers and about 300 groundwater basins and aquifers? ? Abbugao), covered by more than 2,000 treaties(TO p?). For example, the Tigris & Euphrates rivers begin in Turkey and flows through the Persian Gulf, the Mekong flows through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam (DS p77) (the Nile basin covers eight /nine acc to DS/ countries ? TO p53; the Danube in Europe flows through 17 countries ? TO p80; Niger 10, Zambezi 8, Amazon 7 ? DS p77). Most water resources such as lakes, rivers, watersheds and aquifers transcend political boundaries.

Water is being withdrawn from the world?s aquifers faster than it can be replenished by rainfall (TO p8 & SA p41) causing dropping of water tables, most severe in India (worst, two times rate of replacement, water table dropping 3 to 10 feet/yr ? UNH p36; in parts of Gajarat, the water table has been dropping as much as 20 feet per year ? NG p10), China (UNH p36) (under the city of Xi?an in China?s Shaanxi Province, the water table has dropped 300 feet in 40 years ? TO p82) and parts of the US, etc (SA p41) (also Iran, Mexico, the Middle East, and North Africa ? WA p5). The present world-wide deficit is approximately equal to the flow of the Colorado River (TO p8). At this rate, in 20 more years, available per capita renewable water supplies in the Middle East, for example, will fall to 1/5th its present levels (TO p46). A 1999 report by the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century warned that half of the world?s major rivers are going dry or are polluted (250 of 500) (?99 SP).

Water resources are not evenly distributed over the earth.  60% of the freshwater resources are concentrated in just ten countries, including the US, along with Canada, Russia, China, Indonesia and Brazil (BFP) (and Iceland? ? TO p51). Canada has one tenth of the world?s surface freshwater, but only 1% of the population (NG p17). ?The Congo-Zaire basin has 50%of Africa?s water, but only 10% of the continent?s people? (TO p76). On the other end of the spectrum, the African country of Djibouti is ?the world?s most water-scarce nation? with only an average of 13 gallons available per person per day for all purposes (household, industry, agriculture) ? TO p51. When water scarcity begins to effect neighboring nations, disputes can arise. Disputes may then lead to local, national and international tensions and violence.  In the year 2000, the Asian Development Bank warned of water wars in its annual report, identifying 70 water-related ?flashpoints? around the world (Abbugao). ?The next world war will be fought over water? (E Mag p32) (said Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali warned as far back as 1985, before becoming Secretary General of the UN ? TO p47). (Repeated again recently by Ismail Serageldin, Vice President of the World Bank ? E Mag p32) 

Check out the website: http://www.worldwater.org/conflict.html for a comprehensive account of world water conflicts.

Another problem which contributes to our abuse of the world?s water resources is our species-centric attitude. Too often we fall into the habit of thinking of water in terms of its utility to humankind (WA p5&6). We forget that we share the water with all the species that inhabit the planet. Rivers, lakes and wetlands are not just water sources for people, they are habitats for plants and animals (W p4&6 & SA p41-42). These are living systems we are manipulating like a simple commodity. These ecosystems maintain a balance of nature, conserve genetic diversity and perform a number of other functions critical to maintaining the health of the planet. Wetlands, for example, protect water quality by filtration and breaking down pollutants. Along with floodplains and watersheds, they ?provide homes and breeding sites for fish, birds, amphibians, etc?. These eco-systems moderate floods and droughts. Rivers enrich the soils of their floodplains, estuaries and deltas with nutrient-rich sediments. Where rivers meet the ocean they maintain salinity levels with coastal marine ecosystems. Engineering which has dammed and channelized rivers have distorted all these myriad functions which natural courses perform, leading even to the endangerment or extinction of many species, especially fish (WA p6&9, SA p41-42, E Mag p33). Just as important is the esthetic value of the natural beauty of these areas. These environments also provide important food sources to humans. There is great economic value as well to the host of recreational activities that surface waters supply?s fishing, boating, swimming, etc (WA p6). When we compromise the health of these systems, not only do we disrupt the natural genetic diversity and ecological balance and cause species extinctions, but we can even effect the climate on a global scale. Climate change resulting from higher temperatures also leads to increased evaporation rates causing drought, and increased rainfall to snowfall ratio which can result in flooding and raising of sea level, salinity changes in marine environments and salt water intrusion into groundwater, etc (UNH p36-37). In regards to groundwater, over-pumping has been known to cause land subsidence, such as under Mexico City, which has sunk 24 feet in the last hundred years due to depletion of aquifers (NG p9). Subsidence rates of three feet per year have been measured on portions of the North China Plain, and huge sinkholes have appeared in Florida (NWF).

What compromises the health of water-based natural ecosystems most is the intense competition for water between agriculture, industry and municipal systems. ?About 40% of the world?s food now grows in irrigated soils. Which make up 18% of global cropland? (SA p46&41) (36% of world harvest depends on irrigation ? AWAKE p6; 15% of the world?s cropland produces half the food ? TO p137). About 8% of all these irrigated croplands are using groundwater faster than it can be replenished (SA p46). What compounds these problems is the fact that inefficient irrigation methods lose as much as 60% of the water before it even reaches the crops (AWAKE p9 & NWF), to evaporation, runoff (NG p14), or leaking pipes (NWF). The green revolution has not only led to unsustainable use of water and contamination of groundwater with agrochemicals and animal wastes (AWAKE p9), but high intensity irrigation has further degraded soils by leaching, erosion and salinization, to the point where some fields become useless (SA p50). (25% of land seriously damaged by salinization in the US and India ? AWAKE p9; 4 to 6 million acres of productive farmland lost due to salinization annually ? NWF) At present, it is estimated that up to 70% of the world?s freshwater is used for agriculture (NWF) (65% - UNH p34). Another 25% is used for industry (NWF), which often comes out polluted at the other end.

Approximately, 10% of water resources are used by households. But every 100 gallons that comes into the home, about 12 gallons on average is lost to leakage from broken pipes (UNH p35). ?Even in the most modern systems, losses of 10 to 20% are common? (SA p44). In some urban systems, leakage from pipes is estimated to be as high as 30% or more (WA p7-8). In developing countries, we see a similar estimate due to leaky or broken pipes, or poorly maintained delivery infrastructure (SA p43). Mexico is perhaps the worst example 1/3 of water lost to leakage (TO p136), whose water lost to leaks alone could supply another city the size of Rome (SA p43). In Tanzania?s capital of Dar-es-Salaam, it is estimated that up to half of all municipal water is lost from leaky pipes (TO p76). Similar statistics for Puerto Rico (TO p137)

As good potable water becomes scarcer from unsustainable use, wasteful practices or pollution, water becomes more and more to be considered a commodity. World consumption of bottled water is growing at 7% per year according to a recent USN&WR report, with the highest increase in the Asia Pacific region (E Mag p33). In 1992 (or before?), water specialist Joyce Starr of the Global Water Summit Initiative, predicted ?In the year 2000, water will become more expensive than oil? (DS p76). Where once predictions that water would someday cost more than oil were laughed at, this has become a reality. In some developing countries, where bottling companies are aggressively marketing, water purchase can represent a large portion of a family?s income; 10 to 20% in Ghana, for example (E Mag p33) (up to 20% in Haiti ? TO p74). A quarter of al the developing world?s urban dwellers must pay inflated prices for water (NG p22). Added to this is the problem of the huge amount of plastic waste it creates (E Mag p33). Bottling plants for water threatens to lead to other water resources coming under corporate control. Privatization should be avoided or at least strongly regulated (WA p7).

What can be done about this? Improving efficiency of delivery and use, sharing information about water-efficient technological innovation and conservation should be the first approach. It makes sense to start with the biggest user; agriculture. ?Studies in India, Israel, Jordan, Spain and the US have shown that drip irrigation reduces water use by 30% to 70% and increases crop yield by 20 to 90% compared to flooding methods? (SA p50) while much reducing water lost to evaporation. This also slows the rate of salinization of the soil. Farmers can also switch to more water efficient crops (SA p50 & AWAKE p11). The switch to organic methods would prevent pollution of groundwater. For rural farmers in developing countries, promotion of human-powered, affordable and appropriate pumping technologies (like treadle pumps ? WA p6, SA p51 & NG p24) can help them get their fair share in a sustainable way (WA p8). In industry, water use can be reduced by recycling when possible, and employing more efficient systems and technologies.

In municipal systems, delivery infrastructure kept well-maintained to the home will save much, and recycling will save more (SA p50). Conservation measures within the home could save more. Old toilets used up to 6 gallons per flush. One positive change is that ?in 1992, the US Congress passed a national standard mandating that all new residential units? must have low 1.6 gallon flush models (SA p44). Still, up to 1/3 of water coming into the home goes down the toilet. The switch to composting toilets could totally eliminate this waste entirely. Otherwise in the household, alternative to other appliances and fixtures are available now with greater water efficiency. Finally, metering presents an economic solution. Cutting back subsidies and requiring people to pay (more) for water has been a proven incentive for conservation.

There are several ways we can use our power as consumers to help alleviate the world water crisis. One way is to make choices among products which are more water efficient in their manufacture, and use conservatively those products which are water-intensive in their manufacture. Paper, for example, takes 700 pounds (= 84g) of water to produce one pound (AWAKE p7). By comparison, it takes 14 gallons to produce one pound of recycled paper (TO p141). ?It takes 50 gallons of water to produce one gallon of gasoline? (TO p104). It requires 230 gallons to produce one pound of synthetic rubber (TO p141). Changing our diet can be another way, to a more vegetarian base. To produce one pound of corn, for example, takes 100 to 250 gallons of water, while to produce one pound of corn-fed beef requires 2,000 to 8,500 gallons (SA p44). It takes 1,000 tons of water to raise one ton of grain, while it takes 15,000 tons of water to raise one ton of grain-fed beef (UNH p35). We might also switch from water-intensive protein such as beef and pork, to ?more grain-efficient forms of animal protein?, such as poultry and farmed fish (WA - no). In other words, eat lower on the food chain (SA p50), and eating more grain directly is also a good idea.

Conserving and protecting existing supplies should be our first approach, but many solutions have also been proposed to increase supplies. One such proposal advocates the ?bag and drag? approach, taking water from more water rich areas and transporting it in huge polyurethane or fabric bags towed behind ships via the ocean to water-poor areas. Icebergs might be towed the same way. Also, the technology for desalination of ocean water exists and is being practiced in some areas. 120 countries around the world have desalination plants, but 60% of the 11,000 plants operating are in the Middle East (TO p91) (about 1 ¼ cent per gallon ? TO p114?about 3 to 4 times the cost of other ? TO p120). Total, they produce 4 billion gallons daily (TO p91). Still, this remains expensive and cost prohibitive for most at present (about 1 ¼ cent per gallon ? TO p114?about 3 to 4 times the cost of other ? TO p120). However, as improving technology brings down the cost and demand goes up, this may be an increasingly viable option (SA p45).

But on the other hand, anything which sets a precedent for water commodification and privitization is dangerous, and should be avoided except as a last resort. Even then it should submit to strict governmental regulation which protects the environment and the poor, and be prevented from entering any situation in which water comes under the auspices of world trade agreements, which wrests it from local control. More sensible would be sticking to conservation as the first option, better management and promoting technologies such as rainwater catchment. It is estimated that it would take a collective political commitment of only a mere $36 billion (approximately equivalent to 4% of the world?s military budget) to provide all of humanity with potable water and proper sanitation (TL ?95 p25). (Abbugao article says need 70 billion per year for next ten years) Where this basic human necessity and right is met by responsible governments, business loses to power to interfere and manipulate for self-interest and profit.

Protecting the clean water resources we have left should be a high political priority, as well as cleaning up those which have become contaminated. Laws which protect the environment and watersheds also protect the water. More than protection, environmental policy should promote reversing damage that has been done, such as encouraging reforestation and dismantling aging dams to let water courses return to their natural state (a few countries are doing this already ? SA p43). Governments should establish flow requirements which prevent rivers from being running dry before that reach their natural outlets, and withdrawal rate regulations from aquifers. Farmers should be given incentives to switch to non-polluting organic methods and composting methods for animal wastes. Industry should be rewarded for greater conservation and pollution control measures as they are penalized for excessive polluting practices.

Whether from point or non-point sources, contamination should be prevented from reaching ground waters by every technological means. Another significant sources of pollution is the military, which leaves radiation from radioactive materials from nuclear weapons testing / use (LVS) and depleted uranium, toxins from spent ammunition, wastes from weapons manufacture, and contamination from testing and use of chemicals such as agent orange and other defoliants. Cleanup should be a priority despite the cost, whether it be due to military or industry. ?Initial remediation of the 300,000 contaminated groundwater sites in the US will cost up to $1 trillion over the next 30 years, according to the National Research Council? (E Mag p33). There are 1,700 sites on the National Priorities List as of January 2001 (ND). Strategic use of trees and plants not only helps restore the environment but phytoremediation also shows great promise in cleaning up shallow and lower level polluted sites (ND).

Shortages of clean water which result from drought, over-pumping, population pressures, environmental degradation, inefficient use, faulty delivery systems, pollution and mismanagement (LVS) are a serious issue. The threat of chronic water stress presents risks in our food security, environment, world economy, social welfare and political stability (WA p4). We need to meet the needs of the global population while protecting environmental integrity (WA p4). This can be done by water conservation, environmental protection, better management, and responsible political legislation. What?s more, we need to change our mind set from looking at water as being a mere commodity like steel or oil, and adopt a wiser ethic and a new attitude recognizing water as a sacred substance we share we all life forms on earth.

REFERENCES: