EARLIER this year, University of California-Irvine researchers concluded that while California is in the midst of a massive four-year drought, its water reservoirs now carry only a year’s supply. Decades of groundwater reportedly remain, however, scientists project that current extraction rates—driven in part by the state’s agriculture—are unsustainable.
California Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed state legislation to fast-track up to $1 billion in emergency spending to support residents under water stress, build more water infrastructure and fund multiyear projects on water recycling and conservation awareness.
Home to some 20 million people, São Paulo, Brazil, is undergoing a similar water crisis. A December 2014 The Economist article described how many reservoirs were unreplenished from largely inadequate rainfall throughout last year.
Several schools and establishments closed because taps ran dry for months. Recently, city officials warned that water rationing loomed closer where citizens would only be supplied two days a week. Reports emerged that some residents drilled holes in their basements and carparks in desperate search for usable groundwater.
Iran appears to be hounded by something more dire. Masoumeh Ebtekar, Iranian vice president and head of the Environment Protection Organization, said that up to 74 percent of Iran’s important wetlands were “seriously damaged.” Some estimate that at least a dozen of the country’s 31 provinces will have to be evacuated over the next 20 years because dust storms and arid lands would render them unlivable.
Analysts describe the crisis as largely manmade, where populist policies encouraged excessive use and mismanagement. And where water has become scarcest, unrest has spurred protest actions that have sometimes turned violent. Last year a thousand farmers from the Isfahan region destroyed valves of water pipelines to neighboring cities. They ended up in clashes with riot police.
California, Brazil and Iran are instances of how poor water management causes very serious problems. Where water buoys nations by sustaining economic growth and keeping people fed and healthy, its absence can wash away development and prosperity. And while usable water is finite as much as it is vital, demand will only intensify with a growing world population.
The United Nation’s 2015 World Water Development Report, however, highlights that “there is enough water available to meet the world’s growing needs,” emphasizing that the global water crisis “is one of governance, much more than of resource availability.” The same report cautioned that if the status quo remains, the world would be able to supply only 60 percent of its water demand by 2050.
To be sure, water issues are complex and vary from country to country. The Philippines may not be bedeviled by the same issues described above but that does not mean water is not a problem for Filipinos. We must pay heed today, especially when the country is on the rise. Managing our water resources better today assures the prosperity of many generations tomorrow.
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.