The water crisis illustrated 5 graphics
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Will there be enough water tomorrow for everyone on our planet? Theoretically yes, but it is urgent to change "radically" how to use it and share it, warns the United Nations (UN) in its 2015 Annual Report on the blue gold, she released Friday, March 20, the day before the World Water Day. Otherwise, at the current rate, "the world will face a global water deficit of 40%" in 2030 wrote the experts of the UN World Programme for the assessment of water resources.
Inextricably linked to climate change, agriculture and food security, energy, health and even gender equality, water may be the theme that best illustrates the three pillars sustainable development, both in the fight against poverty, economic development, or the preservation of ecosystems. These are key challenges. The report and highlights how the shortage and poor management of this precious resource crystallize tensions and conflicts around the world.
- Water stress that affects a large part of the globe
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Water stress - ie insufficient resources to meet the different human activities and the needs of the environment - begins when water availability is less than 1,700 cubic meters per year per person. Almost three quarters of people in Arab countries live below the established threshold shortage, he, 1 000 m 3 per year, and nearly half are in an extreme situation with less than 500 m 3, in Egypt, Libya in particular.
Developing countries are not the only ones affected. "How the American West, some provinces of China, Mexico or the southern Mediterranean will they do in thirty years? Asks Richard Connor, expert for the United Nations, which is participating for the fourth time in the annual report on the water. Water stress can have incalculable consequences. For example, in 2010, droughts and forest fires in the Russian steppes have reduced wheat exports result.. The price of bread has doubled, which led to the "Arab Spring" "
Desalination centers projects multiply to produce drinking water in parts of the world who have the means, as in California or in Arab countries. Alone, Saudi Arabia wants to build 16 new plants powered by nuclear energy.
- Groundwater increasingly overexploited
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Underground aquifers provide drinking water to half of the world population. But one in five is overexploited. Largely devolved to the intensive irrigation - as in the north of China, where the level of the water table is lowered 40 meters in a few years - excessive harvesting accentuate the landslide risk and especially favor salt inputs making the term undrinkable water. With the rise of sea level, major cities and see the quality of their freshwater aquifers threatened, including Shanghai, China, and Dhaka, Bangladesh. And the Pacific islands like Tuvalu and Samoa are forced to import more and more fresh water. The salt penetration is also a concern for the French Mediterranean regions.
India is often cited as an example in terms of non-sustainable use of groundwater resources. In 1960, the country was equipped with less than a million wells; in 2000, there were 19 million. All this resource levied by pumps helped to boost agricultural productivity and reduce poverty levels. But the choice of irrigation is now not only pay by serious pollution, but also because power outages due to lack of water to run power plants are common.
- Improved access to safe drinking water
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In twenty years, the number of people with access to "improved drinking water point" increased by 2.3 billion. UN rapporteurs speak of "impressive progress" - while access to water was one of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. They cite, for example, the mutation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where the management of water distribution has ceased to be catastrophic and corrupt to become very efficient.
However, this figure is debated, insofar as it includes both people who cater to a common terminal, to a well - in this case, how far do they need to travel to go and fill their bucket? - Or a tap at home - fueled how many hours a day?
Worldwide, 748 million people remain without safe drinking water. In urban areas, which extend at breakneck speed with their slums of lots, the number of urban dwellers without access to water increased from 111 million to 149 million between 1990 and 2012. And in sub-Saharan Africa continues to suffer from shortages in the cities and the countryside. Women and girls especially: it is mainly they who are responsible for fetching water, they still devote two to four hours per day on average in rural areas. "The principle of equity, perhaps more than any technical recommendation, carries with it the promise of a world where water security will become a reality for all," write the rapporteurs. Overall, 36% of the African population still does not have an accessible water source.
- Of progress in sanitation
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The sanitation situation lends itself much less a good report. That objective would need $ 53 billion (€ 50 billion) of investment per year for five years to achieve universal coverage, according to the UN. More and more NGOs seize the World Water Day to draw attention to the lack of toilets and latrines in the world, with appalling consequences for the daily life of a large part of humanity and the environment. One billion people defecate in the open, for lack of better.And 2.5 billion live without connection to a collection system. Besides this, when present, often leads to any form of treatment before discharge into the environment.
- That consumes the most water?
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By 2050, water demand is expected to increase by 55%, not only under the pressure of a growing population (the Earth will number 9.5 billion people), but also because consumption soars. The needs of the industry should explode 400% by then. As for the agricultural sector, its current withdrawals are not sustainable, experts say. Between 1961 and 2009, cultivated land has expanded by 12%, while the irrigated area increased by 117%.
It would make less greedy agriculture so that it can feed more and more humans without contaminating provided the resource or to pollute the environment. Use waste water, once treated, could help address this challenge.
Finally, the UN rapporteurs recall the need to increase efforts to conserve resources, as ecosystems are in decline, especially wetlands. However, these make incommensurate services. UN-Water cites a 2014 study that estimated 20,000 billion (19,000 billion) losses due to spoilage, and shows that investing in the preservation of the environment is very profitable.
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