A Call To Action
- "The 21st century is the century in which the overriding problem is one of water quality and management".
Source: World Development Report
- "Of
all the social and natural crises we humans face, the WATER CRISIS is
the one that lies at the heart of our survival and that of our planet
Earth".
Source: World Development Report
- "No
region will be spared from the impact of this crisis which touches
every facet of life, from the health of children to the ability of
nations to secure food for their citizens".
Source: World Development Report
- "The
global water crisis will reach unprecedented levels in the years ahead
with growing per capita scarcity of water in many parts of the
developing world".
Source: United Nations report, 2003.
- "Water resources will steadily decline because of population growth, pollution and expected climate change".
Source:
The first UN system-wide evaluation of global water resources, the
World Water Development Report, UNESCO.
- “We are living in a water 'bubble' as unsustainable and fragile as that
which precipitated the collapse in world financial markets - the world is on the 'verge of bankruptcy' in water
supply".
Source:
The World Economic Forum, March 2009
- "Water scarcity poses huge threats undermining the world economy and threatening global security as nations or ethnic groups clash over dwindling water and food".
Source:http://citiwire.net/post/811/, March 2009
- "From
Georgia to California, American regions are also having to face grim
water futures. By some projections, water scarcity could cut world
harvests 30 percent by 2030 — even as human numbers and appetites
increase. We're learning, that this Earth — this "blue-green oasis in
the limitless black desert of space" — has a finite stock of water, and
little time to correct its profligate ways".
Source:http://citiwire.net/post/811/, March 2009
- The Key Problem: Nations across the continents waste vast amounts of
water through inefficient practices. They dump - daily -about 2 million
tons of human and industrial wastes and chemicals, along with
agricultural discharges (animal waste, fertilizer and pesticides), into
water supplies. And they're allowing aquifers to be depleted and
polluted, and the water levels of giant lakes to sink alarmingly. In
the meantime, growing threats from accelerating floods and droughts
triggered by climate change, as well as rapid urbanization - especially
the rise of megacities - darken the outlook still more - sixty percent
of China's 669 cities, for example, are already short of water".
Source:http://citiwire.net/post/811/, March 2009
- The latest research on Global Warming, FreshWater and possible impact on and all of us: A review by a group of U.S. scientists of satellite and weather records for
Antarctica showed that freezing temperatures had risen by about 0.5 Celsius (0.8
Fahrenheit) since the 1950s.
- Let Clean Waters Flow: "To the people of poor nations, we
pledge to work alongside you to make
your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved
bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy
relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to
suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources
without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change
with it.”
Source: President Barack Obama's Inaugural Speech, January 20, 2009, Washington, DC.
- "For some, the world water crisis means
having to walk long distances every day to fetch enough drinking water
- clean or unclean - just to get by. For others,it means suffering from
avoidable malnutrition or disease caused by drought, flood or
inadequate sanitation. Still others experience it as a lack of funds,
institutions or knowledge to solve local problems of water use and
allocation".
Source: The United Nations World Water
Development Report 2, WWDR 2, published in 2006.
- Industries already affected by water crisis, warns UN, January 31, 2008 ; "The challenge of water has been with us for a long time. So why has it
suddenly propelled itself onto the radar of senior industry figures and
in the past few days become a top agenda item for multi-national
corporations?"
Source: WBCSD (http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MjgzMTM)
- "Unsafe
drinking water exacts a heavy toll on communities, families, and children worldwide. "Over five thousand children die every day
from simple diarrhea, a water-borne affliction". Millions of lives can be saved or transformed by simply
focusing on improving water quality in communities we live and work in".
Source: UNICEF
- "When
Americans were recently asked in a Gallup poll to rank the top 12 environment
concerns from predefined categories such as global warming; the top four were
related to water quality, with pollution of drinking water as the top
concern".
Source: Gallup (www.gallup.com/poll/104932/Polluted-Drinking-Water-No-Concern-Before-Report.aspx)
- "At least 36 states are expected to face water shortages within the next five years, according to U.S. government estimates".
Source: National Council for Science and the Environment: (http://ncseonline.org)
- "The
accelerating depletion of aquifers means this day may come soon,
creating potentially unmanageable food scarcity. Falling Water Tables,
Falling Harvests, June 2008".
Source: Earth Policy (http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Seg/PB3ch04_ss2.htm)
- "WHO Warns, polluted water may kill 1,6 million
people" (polluted water kills 4,000 people daily):
Source: Earthtimes (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/214266,who-warns-polluted-water-may-kill-16-million-people--summary.html)
- "We are dedicated to educating children and adults about the necessity for
clean and safe water, and it's far reaching economic and environmental
impact. While the public is hearing about going green, our goal is to
educate them about going BLUE. This "BLUE MOVEMENT" is communicated
through a variety of education and communication methods best suited to reach
each target audience.
Source: LetCleanWatersFlow.com
The World Water Crisis
- The water crisis will worsen in the years ahead with growing per capita scarcity of water;
- Water supplies are
falling while the demand is dramatically growing at an unsustainable
rate. Over the next 20 years, the average supply of water world-wide
per person is expected to drop by a third;
- Many countries and territories are already in a state of crisis;
- Climate change will account for an estimated 20% of this increase in global water scarcity;
- The water crisis is set to worsen despite continuing debate over the very existence of such a crisis;
- Waste is dumped every day into rivers, lakes and streams;
- One litre of wastewater pollutes about eight litres of freshwater;
- Financing
the Millennium development goals will probably be one of the most
important challenges that the international community will have to face
over the next 15 years;
- The world water development report ranks 122 countries
according to the quality of their water as well as their ability and
commitment to improve the situation. The list of countries
with the best quality is headed by Finland followed by Canada, New
Zealand, United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, Russian Federation, Republic of
Korea, Sweden and France;
- The future of many parts of the world
looks bleak; in reference to projected population growth, which will
continue to be a driving factor in the water crisis;
- Water
consumption has almost doubled in the last 50 years. A child born in
the developed world consumes 30 to 50 times the water resources of one
in the developing world. Meanwhile water quality continues to worsen;
- Water
use and management – from the growth of cities to the threat of looming
water wars; the water crisis - be it the number of children dying of
disease or polluted rivers - is a crisis of governance and a lack of
political will to manage the resource wisely;
- Globally, the
challenge lies in raising the political will to implement water-related
commitments. Water professionals need a better understanding of the
broader social, economic and political context, while politicians need
to be better informed about water resource issues. Otherwise water will
continue to be an area for political rhetoric and lofty promises
instead of sorely needed actions;
Source: The World Water Development Report, UNESCO.
- Almost all living things on
Earth need water to live, yet humans pollute and waste it recklessly;
- More than a fifth of the
world’s population doesn’t have enough: it is likely people will go to war
over water in your lifetime;
- Some areas have far too much
water and suffer from floods, like Bangladesh
and the flood plains of the Mississippi
in the USA;
- Other areas, like Africa and West Asia, suffer severe droughts. The problem of
water availability is most serious in Africa and West
Asia;
- If water consumption
continues at its present rate, by 2025 two out of three people will not
have enough water for their basic needs;
- Worldwide, polluted water
affects the health of 1.2 billion people and contributes to the death of
15 million children under five every year. For example, in Asia, one in three people do not have access to safe
drinking water and one in two have no access to hygienic sanitation;
- Mining and industry pollute
rivers with deadly chemicals. Farmers spray crops with pesticides and
fertilisers which are washed into rivers and lakes. In many parts of the
world, people use rivers as open sewers and garbage dumps. Near coasts,
when too much water is taken from aquifers (big underground reservoirs of
fresh water), sea water seeps in and makes the water salty and
undrinkable;
- Brown water running out of
tap is a common problem in many developing countries. It has led to the
outbreak of cerebral meningitis and hookworm.
Source: United Nations
Message
- Meeting the basic needs; recognizing
that access to safe and sufficient water, and sanitation are the basic
human needs, and are essential to health, and well-being;
- Securing the food supply; enhancing
food security, particularly of the poor and vulnerable, through more
efficient mobilization and use of water and the more equitable
allocation of water for food production;
- Protecting ecosystems; ensuring the integrity of ecosystems through sustainable water resources management;
- Managing risks; promoting drinking water safety, and security from floods, droughts, pollution and other water hazards;
- Sharing water resources; promoting
peaceful cooperation and developing synergies between different uses of
water at all levels, whereever possible, within and - in the case of
boundary and transboundary water resources - between concerned states,
through sustainable river basin management or other appropriate
approaches;
- Valuing water; managing water in a way that
reflects its economic, social, environmental and cultural values in all
uses, with a move towards pricing water services to reflect the cost
of their provision. This approach should account for the need for
equity and the basic needs of the poor and the vulnerable;
- Governing water wisely; ensuring
food governance, so that the involvement of the public and the
interests of all stakeholders are included in the management of water
resources.
Here's What You Can Do:
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