Water Inequality Used to be a Developing World Problem Only. Not Any More
It is far too easy to view scarcity and poor quality of water as issues solely affecting emerging economies. While the images of women and children fetching water in Africa and a lack of access to water in India are deeply disturbing, this is not the complete picture.
The city of Flint, Michigan, where dangerous levels of pollutants contaminated the municipal water supply, is a case in point - as is, more recently, the city of Newark, New Jersey.
Water is not a developing-world problem. It's an everyone, everywhere problem. And it's one of the most pressing issues of our time. We all need and rely on it, and as competition for water escalates around the world, the strain of growing populations, climate change and political tensions add even more pressure to ensuring we all have access.
What happens when society fails to invest in water infrastructure, or to adopt innovative technologies, modernize policies, regulations and governance?
We don't have long before our options begin to dry up Image: World Resources Institute
The past is no longer a guide to the future
We get ever closer to “day zeros” - the point at when municipal water supplies are switched off - and tragedies such as Flint. These are not isolated stories. Instead they are becoming routine, and the public sector and civil society are scrambling to address them. We are seeing “day zeros” in South Africa, India, Australia and elsewhere, and we are now detecting lead contamination in drinking water in cities across the US.
“Day zero” is the result of water planning by looking in the rear-view mirror. The past is no longer a guide to the future; water demand has outstripped supplies because we are tied to business-as-usual planning practices and water prices, and this goes hand-in-hand with the inability of the public sector to factor the impacts of climate change into long-term water planning. Lead in drinking water is the result of lead pipe service lines that have not been replaced and in many cases only recently identified by utilities, governments and customers. An estimated 22 million people in the US are potentially using lead water service lines. This ageing infrastructure won’t repair or replace itself.
The past is no longer a guide to the future
We get ever closer to “day zeros” - the point at when municipal water supplies are switched off - and tragedies such as Flint. These are not isolated stories. Instead they are becoming routine, and the public sector and civil society are scrambling to address them. We are seeing “day zeros” in South Africa, India, Australia and elsewhere, and we are now detecting lead contamination in drinking water in cities across the US.
“Day zero” is the result of water planning by looking in the rear-view mirror. The past is no longer a guide to the future; water demand has outstripped supplies because we are tied to business-as-usual planning practices and water prices, and this goes hand-in-hand with the inability of the public sector to factor the impacts of climate change into long-term water planning. Lead in drinking water is the result of lead pipe service lines that have not been replaced and in many cases only recently identified by utilities, governments and customers. An estimated 22 million people in the US are potentially using lead water service lines. This ageing infrastructure won’t repair or replace itself.
Will Sarni, Founder and CEO, Water Foundry.
This post first appeared on the World Economic Forum's Agenda blog.
Image: ohnny McClung on Unsplash
