Global Issues
Walking Precariously on Uncertain Water
Around a billion people already face scarcity of fresh water, and the problem is expected to grow in the future, with pollution, over-population and climate change affecting water supply, experts say.
This makes the water under the earth’s surface all the more important.
'In the coming years, several regions will be facing severe water scarcity conditions and, as a result, competition for these shared resources could increase and become a source of conflict,' said Alice Aureli, programme specialist in the Division of Water Sciences at Paris-based UNESCO, the United Nations scientific and cultural agency.
Co-chairing a three-day conference on groundwater at the agency that ended Wednesday, Aureli said that both governments and communities need to increase their commitment to sustainable management of groundwater, which is 'important for human development and the natural environment.'
The UNESCO conference, titled Transboundary Aquifers: Challenges and New Directions, drew more than 400 participants from around the globe, including scientists, lawyers, and policy makers.
Their work comes ahead of negotiations that may lead to an international law on aquifers - the geological formations that can store and provide water to a well or spring.
During the next session of the UN General Assembly in 2011, governments are expected to adopt a convention on transboundary aquifers that will set guidelines on cooperation and management, among other areas.
These underground resources represent nearly 96 percent of the planet’s freshwater, according to hydro-geologists. In arid or semi-arid regions, they are often one of the few sources of water supply, such as in Saudi Arabia and Malta, UNESCO says.
The agency’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP) published the first detailed map of transboundary aquifers in 2008. This year, more than 270 have been identified all over the world. Seventy-three are on the American continent, 38 in Africa, 65 in Eastern Europe, 90 in Western Europe and 12 in Asia.
'The big deal is that it’s water, and everybody needs it,' said Cletus Springer, director of the Department of Sustainable Development at the Organisation of American States (OAS).
'So many of our industries are water-dependent - tourism, the drinks sector, agriculture. And already so many of our countries are water-stressed,' Springer told IPS, referring to regions such as the Caribbean and Latin America.
Since 2009, several Caribbean countries have been experiencing intermittent drought, with limited water for cooking, sanitation and farming. The dry spells also affected tourism, with water having to be trucked to hotels, for instance.
With water being extracted from below ground, stocks are being depleted in some areas, and aquifers are also falling prey to encroaching seawater.
Springer, a national of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, said a major problem affecting groundwater in small island states is that of salinity, where the water is becoming salty because of rising sea levels.
'Acidification and salinity are two of the main problems induced by climate change,' he said. Some aquifers also naturally contain brackish water which needs to be treated before consumption.
In Africa, where access to water can be a daily struggle, the management of shared aquifers is an urgent issue, said Charles Ngangoué, chairman of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW-TAC).
'Water doesn’t need a passport or a visa to pass from one country to another, so all these things have to be resolved,' he said. 'We have a lot of challenges with few means, few resources.'
Maina Karaba, a representative from the Djibouti-based Intergovernmental Authority on Development, told IPS that one of the challenges in Africa was 'to tell people what lies below', so citizens would be more aware of this 'hidden resource'.
'We’re walking on it, but few people know it’s there,' he said.
Public disposal of unused medicines, cellular phones, computer parts (shipped to Africa from around the world) and other material is contributing to the pollution of groundwater on the continent, he and other delegates said.
Distribution of water is another difficulty, particularly in the Horn of Africa.
'Sometimes there’s lots of water, and sometimes there’s none,' Karaba said, adding that groundwater will be essential in improving supply in the region. Many rural communities in Africa are already dependent on 'sub-surface' water.
In South America, policy makers have been focusing on the Guarani aquifer, which lies under parts of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. This is one of the world’s largest aquifer systems, and here cooperation has given rise to a better understanding of the aquifer and its behavior, UNESCO says. This could be a blueprint for the future, according to the agency.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service