Water: the raw material of life

New Zealanders have a great under-valued asset that we take for granted - water.
Water is the raw material of life. There is no substitute.

Water makes up 75% of our body mass. But of all the water on the planet, more than 97% is salt water, and less than 3% is fresh. Of that 3%, about 0.3% is contained in lakes and rivers, with the polar ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow accounting for over 69%, and 0.9% is attributable to soil moisture, swamp water, and permafrost. The remaining third of the world’s fresh water comes from natural underground sources; ground water.

The world has seen a six-fold increase in water usage since 1900, and the demand for fresh water is increasing at twice the population growth. The world’s population will increased from 6 billion to 8 billion within 25 years.

23 million people worldwide die each year because of unsafe water. Diarrhoea alone kills 3 million people each year. Three-quarters of all diseases have to do with bad hygiene and unsafe water. Pesticide pollution carried by water increases dangers and puts even more people in danger. The Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports:

• Columbian flower growers and orchard tenders in Brazil use ten times as much pesticide as necessary.
• More than half the spraying equipment in Indonesia leaks.
• Pakistan farmers waste about half their pesticides, which leads to ground waste pollution.

The poor in South Africa in the 1990’s spent about 3 full hours of labour each day hauling water from its source to their homes. While in a typical middle-class household in the OECD countries, people can pay for a day’s worth of water for one or two minutes’ work. The price of water in the poorest areas of South Africa is thus about 25 times the price of water in a modern, middle-class area of South Africa.

That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news.

Access to good water in developing countries has increased from 30% in 1970 to 80% in 2000. The World Watch Institute’s studies report that 30 - 90% of water could be saved at no additional cost to industry.
Irrigation accounts for two-thirds of global use of fresh water, but less than half that actually reaches the roots of plants. Drip irrigation systems, practised in some rich and poor countries, have shown positive results with consistent reduction in water waste by 30 - 70%, while increasing yield by 20 - 90%, according to Sandra Postel in Pillar of Sand.

Some rice farmers in an area of Malaysia increased water productivity by 45$ by shoring up canals and switching from traditional transplanting methods to direct sowing of seeds. Israel is now re-using 65% of its domestic water waste for crop production, freeing up fresh water for households and industry.
Singapore re-cycles and proudly sells this as clean drinking water.

The European Commission reports that water consumption fell by 29% between 1992 and 1994 in Madrid, saving 100 million cubic metres each year. Aged, inefficient water distribution systems create losses estimated at 30% throughout Europe and in certain urban networks may reach 70 - 80%.

Efficiency is another word for conservation, honest transparent costing sends market signals that will be responded to by consumers. You can buy a ton of water in Australia from the tap for less than a bottle of Perrier. Inefficient pricing stalls research and development. Only the rich have the resources to invest in new technologies and research such as genetic engineering to produce crops that are more salt-resistant, use less pesticides and less water. The arrogant indulgence of rich environmentalists, to resist such research is mind-numbingly short-sighted. Low cost, targeted schemes are beginning to work in the most difficult places. The ANC Government has scored success in South Africa by bringing water to thousands of villages.

50,000 more Kenyans are drinking clean water because of low scale projects drilling new wells for only $1,000 that has been funded by the U.S.-based Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

We know what works; we have the systems and the research. Capacity is there. What we can’t seem to do is to organise the political will to unleash the creative capacity to do the job. The political, economic and military, even terrorist potential arising from this crisis may force results. Water as politics is not new either. Look at the ancient water delivery systems that still amaze from Sri Lanka to China and ancient Rome. Leonardo da Vinci and Machiavelli planned to divert the Avno River away from Pisa during its conflict with Florence in 1503. For a chilling history of water conflict during the past 500 years, click on to Water Conflict.