UN Warns of Imminent Water Crisis. Will it Change How We Exploit the Resource?
The United Nations has warned that “vampiric overconsumption and overdevelopment” have drained global water supplies, and we now face an imminent water crisis.
In 2015 world leaders promised to provide access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal 6). Halfway through this journey and not a single indicator of SDG 6 is on track to be achieved by 2030. It’s estimated that by the end of the decade, demand for water will likely outstrip supply by 40%, leaving half the world living in water-scarce areas.
For much of the world though, the crisis is already here. 2 billion people currently lack access to clean drinking water and more than 1 in 3 people do not have access to safely managed sanitation.
Water insecurity is about more than drinking water. Without an abundant water supply, we face increased food insecurity, disease, conflict, displacement and forced migration, undermining all of the promises enshrined in the SDGs.
We cannot achieve SDG 2 — ending hunger and improving nutrition for all — when a third of the world faces food insecurity directly related to water scarcity.
We cannot achieve SDG 3 — securing health and well-being for all — when half of healthcare facilities globally lack basic hygiene services and one child dies every 17 seconds from waterborne diseases.
We cannot achieve SDG 4 — ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all — when millions are forced out of school to collect water for their families or because their schools lack the hygiene services required during menstruation.
The list goes on and on, we cannot achieve the SDGs when we don’t pay attention to water. Water underpins every objective laid out in the 2030 Agenda and is the lifeblood of everything on this planet — it’s time we treated it as such.
How do we value water?
Despite being fundamental to the economy, to the security of human rights, and to adaptation to climate and food crises, water doesn’t get much attention. The UN 2023 Water Conference is the first of its kind in almost half a century.
As water and sanitation remain low on political agendas, and are commonly taken for granted around the world, it’s not surprising that our economy also undervalues the precious resource.
Our economic system is not set up to value the importance of its water, nor impose a cost for the negative externalities that come with water waste, pollution and extraction from already water-scarce areas — activities that prop up industries such as agriculture, fashion and bottled water but are rapidly driving the climate crisis and global inequality.
Cultural shifts to fast fashion and meat-dense diets have catapulted water consumption, creating massive divides in individual water footprints. The fashion industry currently uses 93 billion cubic metres of water annually — enough to meet the needs of 5 million people.
Just one cotton jacket can require more than 10,000 litres of water, which is equivalent to 24 years of drinking water for a single person, and one kilo of beef can require 13,000 litres.
Not only is agriculture the largest consumer of water, but its wastewater massively contributes to the pollution of water and the ecosystems that rely on it, further reducing water availability.
Half a trillion pounds worth of subsidies goes to agriculture and water globally, whilst the prices paid for water may be three to five times lower than the true cost of water if it were valued accurately.
Unfortunately, water prices do not reflect its scarcity and the companies that contribute to scarcity, such as producers of bottled water, will be the ones to profit from it. In 2016 it was estimated that global bottled water sales were twice the amount needed to secure safe drinking water supply, yet safe drinking water still evades 1 in 4 people.
Meanwhile, these profits will likely rise in a world ravaged by climate crises where droughts drain the land of water, and floods and storms damage and pollute water systems.
Do we want a future where corporations can profit off of the scarcity they’ve created, exploiting the most vulnerable?
Is there an alternative?
Whilst many agendas will be pushed and advocated for at the UN Water Conference, many voices are calling for water to be treated as a human right and a common good. They advocate for a new system to govern and value water which ends over-consumption and waste and instead prioritises safe and adequate water access for all, and the international cooperation required for such an aim.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, highlighted that access to safe drinking water and sanitation are internationally recognized human rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and as such there must be a global water governance system to ensure these rights are upheld.
Türk called for the prioritization of “personal and domestic use of water for human beings as a public good, over industrial, commercial, or recreational uses.”
Taking a Human Rights Based Approach to water governance develops a framework that holds states accountable as duty-bearers to provide water and sanitation. Moreover, it requires that they demand compliance from private sector service providers, financial institutions and development agencies.
In a similar vein, many have called for fairer water footprints. A report highlighting the unequal water consumption of different countries has revealed “the grave injustice at the heart of the global water crisis.”
Global north economies rely on external water for 40% to 80% of the total water needs and half of the global water use from rivers and aquifers for the food and goods consumed by high-income economies comes from unsustainable sources.
Not only are richer nations from the global North extracting water from regions facing severe water scarcity, but they also disproportionately contributed to the crisis causing the scarcity, all the while cutting international aid for water and not upholding promises of climate funding.
The unjust roots of the crisis
Tackling the water crisis requires facing the injustices and inequalities at the heart of it. Whilst much of the climate debate action has focused on carbon, it’s clear we must pay similar attention to water, understanding who the worst polluters are and the deadly toll their overconsumption wreaks on others around the world.
Water must be valued for the vital and fundamental role it plays in sustaining an inhabitable planet and frameworks for accountability and cooperation must be developed to ensure everybody receives equal access to this resource.
In a world rapidly hurtling into a climate crisis, it is not enough for states to claim voluntary commitments, we need legally binding and enforceable treaties or conventions to ensure the future of water is sustainable and equitable.
