World Water Day 1997
The World's Water:
Is There Enough?

Quotes - Lessons from last year's Water Day -
Start of Promising Research - Celebrations

Water is a basic requirement for all life, yet water resources are facing more and more demands from, and competition among, users. In 1992 the UN General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Day for Water. This year's celebration of World Water Day is being undertaken under the theme ‘Water Resources Assessment’, with the slogan The World's Water: Is There Enough?

The celebration comes at a time when the global awareness of the vital role water plays in sustainable national development is increasing. Water is vital for sustaining life on earth. It is crucial for economic and social development, including energy production, agriculture and domestic and industrial water supplies. Therefore each unit of water should be used efficiently, equitably and soundly. The economic value that water generates should be given due attention, when apportioning scarce water resources between competing uses, without infringing on the rights to basic services for all people.

Of all the water on earth, 97.5% is salt water, found primarily in the oceans. The remaining 2.5% is freshwater, almost all of which is stored in the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, and as fossil groundwater. The most accessible freshwater resources are in lakes, reservoirs, rivers and streams. These resources amount to only 0.26% of the total amount of freshwater in storage, or 0.007% of all water on earth that is renewable and available for use on a sustainable basis.

Growing tensions over water resources are becoming a potentially explosive source of conflict at the community level up to inter-state politics. Many predict that wars of the next century will be over water, not oil or politics.

Much has been said about our shrinking supply of freshwater, which is a basic requirement for all life. In reality, the world's potential supply of freshwater has not decreased, but the pollution to which it is being subjected and the demands which are placed on this supply, have indeed increased, complicated by irregular rainfall patterns. Water pollution is responsible for the death of some 25 million people each year, especially in developing countries. Half of the world's diseases are transmitted by or through water. It is estimated that 20% of the world's population lacks safe drinking water and 50% lacks access to adequate sanitation.

Between 1900 and 1995 water use has increased by a factor of six, which is more than double the rate of population growth during the same period. The world population is projected to increase from the current 5.7 billion to 8.3 billion in 2025. The result is already evident in the competition for water for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes. Some estimates suggest that, at the turn of the century, the amount of water available to each person in Africa will be one-quarter of that in 1950 and in Asia and South America, it will be about one-third of the 1950 figure. This situation is aggravated by the occurrence of floods and droughts. To compound the issue, the longer-term threat of global warming is expected to impact significantly on regional water resources, with increases in floods in some areas and droughts in others.

Awareness of the seriousness of water problems has evolved gradually over the years, and important recommendations have been formulated since the United Nations Water Conference in Mar del Plata (Argentina) in 1977. Other events that have focused on water issues include the 1992 International Conference on Water and the Environment, convened by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Dublin, Ireland, the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The Ministerial Conference on Drinking Water and Environmental Sanitation held in Noordwijk in March 1994 adopted an action programmeto ensure follow-up to Agenda 21, Chapter 18 on Freshwater Resources. In 1994, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development requested a comprehensive assessment of the world's freshwater resources, including projections of future needs. The results of the study will be considered by the 1997 special session of the UN-General Assembly reviewing the implementation of Agenda 21.

WMO and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are the lead agencies for the celebration of the 1997 World Day for Water. Efforts to mobilize support for the World Day for Water include focusing public attention on the emerging global water crisis as the 21st century approaches.

Quotes

“Our people will not put up for long with a situation of water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink. As plain folks put it: it is better to have no electricity than no water”. President Ramos of the Philippines, referring to too much rain and flooding in the country but not enough drinking water was adamant in 1995 about calling on concerned government agencies and the private sector to formulate a sustainable water utilization programme.

At a workshop on water supply and conservation President Ramos noted that scholars and futurists alike are saying that the next wars are more likely to be fought over water. “This scenario is grim but possible, considering that the amount of water in this world remains constant, but the demand for it - agriculture, industrial and domestic use - constantly increases with the world's population”, the President said.

Mr. Ramos told participants to start identifying underground and surface waters, take measures to protect them and make a determined effort to capture rain and run-off water.

“Global warming, which has not claimed any life yet, receives a good deal of attention from scientists and an extensive international press coverage. At the same time, almost no attention is given to the water crisis. The reason may be that the water crisis will hit harder the developing countries. Furthermore, water professionals have certainly failed in their efforts to get the message of urgency through to the public and to the decision makers”, Haroldo Mattos de Lemos, Brazil's Under Secretary of State for Environment said in 1994 at the Panel on Water Issues Facing the America's during the Fourth Meeting of the Advisory Council of the Inter-American Dialogue on Water Management in Florida, USA.

Lessons from last year's Water Day

A report from last year's World Water Day in Ghana, ‘celebrated on the quiet with only speeches’, provides pointers to what organizing agencies in developing countries should do to make the day more successful. Judith Thompson of ProNet argued that:

• The Water business at country level deserves more than (bland) speeches at Ministerial level. Activities should be decentralized to district level to make it functionally more meaningful to the rural dweller who needs potable drinking water to survive.
• The day be well-organized and hardworking NGOs as well as individuals whose contribution to the sector have helped curb the high incidence of water-borne diseases especially Guinea worm, be recognized and acknowledged by the sector Ministry.
• Communities should be made aware of the day's celebration, since they are the most vulnerable when it comes to potable water. The active involvement of rural areas would expose them to the essence of drinking safe water.
• School children could also be used to get messages across. They are a reliable channel for disseminating information to their peers and parents.
• Both government and NGOs, politicians and opinion leaders, particularly at the grassroots have to be involved in the day's activities.
• The scope of publicity should also be widened to make it known to all. Ms Thompson argued that perhaps the low attention given to the Water Day in Africa generally and Ghana in particular can be traced to the international level. There is no global organization or agency responsible for issues concerning the day; no one in a leadership position at the UN is officially assigned to coordinate activities, like AIDS Day.

Start of Promising Water Resources Management Approaches Research

Together with UNDP, IRC has initiated a research, documentation and dissemination project Promising Water Resources Management Approaches in the Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Sector. The project aims to assess, document and disseminate project experiences with the water resources management principles as agreed at the 1992 International Conference on Water and the Environment, in Dublin. The principles concern:

• water source and catchment conservation and protection;
• water allocation needs;
• efficient water use;
• stakeholder involvement;
• gender balance;
• management at the lowest appropriate level;
• capacity building and
• water's economic and social value.

In November 1996, a preparatory workshop at IRC participants from thirteen projects joined three Advisory Group members to establish a framework to assess their experiences with WRM in the drinking water sector.

After the workshop, participants returned to their projects to assess the way in which they apply all or some of the selected key WRM principles, and their project's experience with these principles. Subsequently, they will return to IRC in June 1997 to jointly review all the project reports. The meeting will help to draw general conclusions as to the applicability of these principles for the WSS sector, bring out important problem areas and bottlenecks, and enable the identification of the most promising practices and experiences. The project plans to disseminate its results among others in the form of a report that is planned to be published early 1998.

Further assistance for advocacy work is available from the IRC homepage on the Internet . It concerns the paper Water: a vital well spring for human development - a case for advocacy. This was prepared by the Information, Education and Communication Working Group of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, which is coordinated by IRC. If you want to receive this text by E-mail or normal mail please contact Dick de Jong at the address below.