Water scarcity: Looming threat

WORLD Water Day (WWD) was observed this year with a sense of alarm. This year's theme was “Water and Energy.” In the backdrop of critical shortage of water in Asia and Africa, the goal is to inspire political and community action and encourage greater global understanding of the need for more responsible water use and conservation.
Water experts say that within 25 years, half of the world's population could have profound trouble in finding fresh water for drinking and irrigation. Currently, at least 40% of the world's population are subject to serious water shortage. Water consumption rose six-fold in the past century, double the rate of population growth. People now use 54% of the available fresh water and additional demand will further jeopardise ecosystems.
Water scarcity may soon limit economic growth, particularly in parts of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan where supplies are already inadequate to meet human needs as well as needs of agriculture and industry. Added to this is pollution that has killed lakes and poisoned rivers.  A report by World Bank, WHO and FAO warns that the situation not only imperils human health and development, but also threatens aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems on which much of human life depends.
Polluted water is a breeding ground for parasites, amoebas and bacteria that affect the health of 1.2 billion people a year. Water borne diseases are responsible for 80% of illnesses and deaths in the developing world, killing a child every eight seconds. Diseases and death related to polluted coastal waters alone cost the global economy $16 billion a year.
Against the backdrop of severe water crisis hitting almost two -thirds of the global population, Bangladesh, once known as a country of rivers, haors and baors, is now facing an acute water crisis and also seasonal flooding. This is due to several factors -- rivers and lakes are drying up due to siltation, and construction of unplanned sluices and dikes. No new tanks, lakes and reservoirs have been excavated during the last one century, and rivers have been dangerously polluted. Buriganga water is so polluted that it cannot be used by Dhaka Wasa even after treatment.
An estimated 90% of the sewage is discharged into rivers, lakes and seas without any treatment. Almost 50% of the population of Bangladesh have become victims of river pollution. Even though the alarm bells are ringing, successive governments in our country and the public in general are apathetic to the problem. “The apathy of the governments in developing countries or more pronouncedly by the world leaders to water issues may be termed as the most critical failure of the 20th century and a major challenge of the 21st century,” contends Peter Gleick, one of the world's leading experts on fresh water resources.
Gleick further says that there are many tools for doing so, and the economic costs are not high compared to the costs of failing to meet those needs. The consequences of failure to bridge the water gap will be expensive food imports for water-scarce countries that are predominantly poor. Hunger and thirst are linked to political instability, bad governance and low economic growth resulting from perils in water supply system. In parts of Khulna, Satkhira and Kalaroa, and coastal areas of Barisal and Patuakhali, non-salty water is sold at Tk. 1 to Tk. 2 per litre.
Conservation has not figured in our scheme of things -- neither directly through water harvesting nor indirectly through restoration of water bodies that have either been encroached upon or devastated by natural calamities like Aila and Sidr. Large cities rely on ground water, but aquifers take decades to recharge. As urban demands for water increases, supply of the developing world's already water-starved areas will be further affected creating a food security crisis.
Uttara, Gulshan-Baridhara, Dhanmondi and even Hatirjheel lakes could be a big source of surface water if we could conserve them by stopping encroachments, preventing discharge of effluents and clearing the debris from the lakes. Paradoxically, on the WWD, people felt vastly amused when they heard some mandarins in the country speaking glibly about conserving surface water to meet human needs without putting too much strain on underground water that is getting exhausted fast. Dhaka Wasa now meets 78% of the needs from underground water, but the water table in some parts of the city is going down by 1-3 metres every year, complicating the supply situation.  
The need of the hour is less noise and more work and action-oriented programmes. The best way to clean the natural sources of water -- either a river or lake -- is to leave them on their own without barraging or closing them at any point.

The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star.
E-mail: aukhandk@gmail.com