Freshwater Resources

"Water flows from high in the mountains. Water runs deep in the Earth. Miraculously, water comes to us, and sustains all life." -- Thich Nhat Hanh

Key Facts on water issues

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Sources of Water Pollution
Seeking Solutions
Taking Community Action
Addressing the Individual
Empowering Communities in Tegucigalpa
Trapping Fog to Meet Water Needs

Though water is the essence of all life on Earth, it is treated by many as though it were an expendable resource. More than 70 per cent of the world's population is without clean water, and an estimated 25,000 people die each day as a result of bad water management. The freshwater deficits that are projected for the next century will have disastrous consequences in some regions, threatening food production, public health and national security. Dying lakes, polluted groundwater and diminishing supplies of potable water are cause for alarm for much of the world's population.

Freshwater resources are finite and exist in a closed system. Only a tiny fraction of the water which covers the Earth is of use to humanity-97 per cent is salt water, filling the oceans and seas. Of the remainder, 99 per cent is out of reach-frozen up in icecaps and glaciers, or buried deep underground. We depend on what is left-in rivers, lakes and accessible aquifers-to quench our thirst, wash away our wastes, water our crops and, increasingly, to power our industries.

In most parts of the world, freshwater resources are overstrained. Industrial wastes, sewage and agricultural runoff overload rivers and lakes with chemicals, wastes and nutrients, consequently poisoning water supplies. Sediments from eroded land silt up dams, rivers and hydroelectric projects. From the United States to India, ill-conceived irrigation schemes are sucking irreplaceable groundwater reserves dry. Sulfur and nitrogen oxides are spewed into the atmosphere from industry and power plants, where they fall back to Earth as acidified rain or snow-often thousands of miles away from their point of origin. From the water, these toxins find their way into plants and animals. Toxic substances associated with chemical emissions have even been found in bear, seal, caribou and whale meat in the Arctic, which are the main staple foods of the Inuit people of the far north.

Though much of polluted water is in the countryside, the affects are greatly felt in the cities, where, by the year 2000, it is estimated that half of the world's 6.3 billion people will be living. Over two billion are expected to reside in metropolises of developing countries. In many developing countries governments are having difficulty coping with fecal contamination of drinking water, the degradation of fresh water resources, and hazardous waste pollution. Many cities seem unable to control and reduce the dumping of raw sewage and garbage into rivers and drainage canals, or stop the growth of mountains of solid wastes from households and industries.

Only a very small portion of sewage in developing countries is treated, resulting in serious health hazards. For example, about half the sewage produced in greater Cairo, Egypt, is dumped, untreated, into open drains, which empty into the Nile, a primary source of water for irrigation and domestic use. In Indonesia, 12,500 kilograms of raw sewage generated daily by millions of slum dwellers in and around Jakarta is dumped into one of nine rivers that flow into Jakarta Bay. The Bogota River in Colombia is unfit for drinking or cooking. Eastern Europe and Russia also have been plagued by serious water scarcity and contamination problems. In Central Asia, especially in the Aral Sea basin, outbreaks of intestinal disorders and cancer have rapidly increased and infant mortality rates have soared, as the region's water quality has sharply declined. In Guinea, a dam at a gold mine broke open in August 1995, spilling thousands of gallons of cyanide into the country's main river, killing virtually all life and putting the entire human population at risk. The government had to respond with emergency distribution of bottled water.

Where water sources are shared by more than one country, these problems are compounded. One country's waste disposal site may be another country's source of drinking water. Deforestation upstream may cause floods or water shortage downstream, while a country's hydroelectric, irrigation and public water projects may cut off its neighbour's supply. About 40 per cent of the world's population depends on water that flows from a neighbouring country. Of the more than 200 river systems shared by two or more countries, several have already caused international conflict. As the world grows thirstier these tensions will no doubt increase.

Most communities today obtain their drinking water from wells. The water is pumped out of aquifers-underground lakes that are usually safe from direct human contact. According to the Water Pollution Control Federation, more than 90 per cent of drinkable water in the world is groundwater. This source of water used to be considered inexhaustible and safe from pollution, but now is increasingly threatened with depletion and contamination.

Many types of everyday, normal human activities disrupt the natural equilibrium of an aquifer, affecting both the quality and the quantity of the water it contains. Increased extraction of water in one area of an aquifer can affect the availability of water in another, thus disrupting the community that depends on it. The diversion of streams and the draining of wetlands can change the location and amount of water absorption. The paving of land for buildings, roads, and parking lots prevents water from entering the soil and eventually recharging the aquifer. The changes in the type or amount of vegetation grown on the surface can alter water circulation. Flooding or prolonged drought also can affect an aquifer in many ways.

The way in which groundwater resources are managed may spell the future economic fate of an entire region. When an aquifer is pumped unsustainably, the results can be disastrous. As the level of an aquifer lowers, it often gets refilled by outside sources of water; a disastrous consequence if the incoming waters are saline, as in the case of sea water, or polluted, as is the case with many rivers and streams. Concentrations of salts, minerals and other materials may increase to a level at which the aquifer is unsuitable for drinking and irrigation.

Sources of Water Pollution

While there are many contaminants from natural sources, such as soil, it is contamination from human activity-industrial, agricultural, municipal, and commercial-that is responsible for most of the problems of surface and groundwater degradation. Discarded toxic materials often end up in thousands of landfills that pockmark the planet like craters on the moon. Wastes from small commercial enterprises, such as dry cleaners and printers, as well as household wastes add to the problem. In agricultural areas, fertilizer and pesticides, once thought to break down in soil, are polluting surface water and groundwater. Livestock wastes from feedlots and human wastes from faulty septic systems are seeping into underground sources of drinking water.

In some countries, hazardous waste is disposed of by injecting it underground into deep wells. Brine from drilling and mining operations is often disposed of in this manner. Acid drainage from coal and metal extraction, radioactive waste from uranium mining, hospitals and defense operations, as well as spills from pipeline breaks and accidents in transportation all are causes of groundwater pollution. The consequence of these activities has been the extensive contamination of thousands of private and public water sources. Often when water is contaminated, there are no biological indications to indicate any change in water quality. Thus, people may continue to drink contaminated water until they fall ill. A contaminated water supply may only be noticed when an entire population becomes affected by an epidemic.

Seeking Solutions

The decade of the 1980s was the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade. Thanks to many UN and NGO initiatives, more than one billion people gained access to potable water during this time. Unfortunately, the goal of providing safe drinking water for all by 1990 could not be realized. To achieve the ultimate goal of everyone having access to a constant clean source of freshwater, scientists at the International Reference Centre for Community Water Supply and Sanitation in The Hague, Netherlands believe that community management of water resources is absolutely essential. Their experience in many developing countries during the Decade showed that even the best run water agencies could not successfully implement, operate and maintain a network of widely dispersed water systems without the full involvement and commitment of the users.

Community management of water resources is a simple and attractive concept. Communities and external agencies work in partnership, so that the resources each can provide are used in the most effective manner to develop dependable and sustainable water supply systems. Local resources are under local control, while central agencies focus on those activities which benefit most from broader collective efforts.

Community management puts water users in charge of their own water systems. It does not mean that users do everything themselves. The most effective community management is an evolving partnership, in which a community-centred organization draws on resources from within the community, from other communities, and from a variety of governmental and non-governmental agencies. In organizing collective efforts, several groups within a society can contribute in accordance with their strengths and experience. Following are a few possible groups that could be approached when organizing a cooperative effort to ensure access to clean and safe water:

• The community. The most important partner is the community itself. Defined as the group of people using the same water supply system, the community can consist of many different groups based on ethnic, socioeconomic, religious or gender differences.
  
  
• Other communities. Success in one community often stimulates success in a neighbouring community. Pooling resources among communities can bring faster and more cost-effective implementation of a system that works. It also can play an important role in long-term sustainability of that system.
  
  
• Government water agencies. The most common partner for the community is a government water agency, or agencies. Accustomed to a patron/client relationship, and staffed accordingly, a water agency often has to undergo significant attitudinal and organizational changes to make community management work. The changes could affect all aspects of water management from staffing and training to planning, implementation and financing. These should be taken as an opportunity for achieving greater success and a higher respect from both communities and government, rather than, as is sometimes the case, being regarded as a threat to job security and a diminution of power. Agencies need a balance of technical staff and experienced community workers, and should see their role as raising community awareness, providing support, and responding to community needs.
  
  
• Government. Though their role is less direct than that of a water agency, local and national levels of government have vital roles to play in the promotion of community management through their control over policy and national resources. The important role for government is a facilitating one. In creating an enabling environment of supporting policies and legislation, governments could retain the vital role of protecting public health and ensuring compliance with national norms and standards. Governments also could integrate community management of rural and urban water supplies into overall water resources management strategies, and give communities the legitimate authority and encouragement to take care of their own water systems.
  
  
• Non-governmental organizations. NGOs often have a strong capacity for facilitating community-centred development, and make natural partners in community management activities. As long as conflicting interests do not create an adversarial relationship, they can help to increase the outreach capacity of governments and donors.
  
  
• The private sector. Local management of water systems could be a powerful stimulus for private enterprise. Communities could hire contractors to help construct a water system. Hiring local mechanics could be a cost-effective way of ensuring timely maintenance, and materials suppliers could be a useful source of credit for community water supply improvements. In these ways and many others, the private sector would be a natural partner in any community effort to build and manage a community waterwater system.
  
  
• Donor agencies. Community management is an attractive proposition for donor support. Specifically aimed at providing sustainable services in a sector where sustainability has proved difficult to achieve in the past, it has the additional appeal of promoting community self-reliance and the potential for the achievement of broader development goals.
  

Taking Community Action

Because freshwater resources are the lifeline of a community, it is essential that communities get involved and work together to ensure they have a continuous clean source. Aside from forming a partnership amongst the aforementioned sectors of society, there are actions that your organization could take to directly address this very important issue. Following are some ideas to consider when mobilizing your community organization to ensure access to clean water:

• Locate the point sources of pollution. You may need a lot of assistance from local and regional authorities in this endeavour, but be prepared to engage in a little investigative work on your own. You may have to first locate the pollution, and then follow it to its source. If possible, take pictures or videos of the sources once you locate them, and submit them to the media, the government and the polluting entity itself. Locate the point sources of pollution.
  
  
• Work against acid rain. Your organization could prevent acid rain by promoting energy efficiency and conservation in your community, and by lobbying your government to require pollution control technologies on power plants, industry and automobiles. Refer to the chapter on Atmosphere for more information on acid rain and what your organization can do to help prevent it. Work against acid rain.
  
  
• Educate your community. Work through your community organization, or in partnership with a local school, to teach proven methods of water conservation. Find out if your government or local university is involved in this effort and give them any support they may need. Promote, through education programmes and individual initiative, efficient and environmentally-sound water use practices to reduce water waste and increase water conservation and preservation in domestic, industrial and irrigation sectors.
  
  
• Empower the people. Recognize and support efforts of NGOs, social movements, indigenous people, women's organizations, agricultural producers' organizations, traditional fisherfolk and local communities to develop an ecologically and socially sustainable use of water.
  
  
• Pursue partnership with government. Lobby locally, regionally, nationally and internationally for governments and multilateral organizations to create and democratically enact legal instruments to protect water supplies, regulate water uses, control water pollution and establish water rights. Ask your government to publish lists of all enterprises and water users who violate environmental principles and standards, and monitor and publicize the information. Also ask international aid institutions to redirect their funding and investments away from costly, destructive, centralized water construction projects and to support ecologically and socially sustainable, decentralized, community-based water resource evaluation and management projects.
  
  
• Help farmers to be more water-conscious. Your organization could help farmers to conserve their irrigation water through innovative technologies, recycle used irrigation water, upgrade their sprinklers, and install drip or trickle irrigation systems. You also could meet with farmers to help them find alternatives to the use of pesticides and other harmful agricultural chemicals. See the chapter on Agriculture for more information on this issue.
  
  
• Ensure sustainable sewage treatment. Untreated sewage discharges from communities often release pathogens, nutrients and, in many cases, toxic substances into the water. When there is an outbreak of a disease like cholera, it spreads like wildfire in such an environment. Controlling this menace will require proper treatment and disposal of sewage along with monitoring and closing contaminated waters to drinking, bathing, and fishing. Work with your community and your local government to ensure proper disposal and treatment of sewage sludge. All sewage plants should be upgraded to at least secondary treatment. Ideally all sewage should be treated through a tertiary process (through three separate bioremediation tanks).
  
  
• Watch out for toxins. Toxic chemicals often enter rivers, streams and aquifers from both industrial and household sources and from improper disposal of hazardous wastes. Prolonged exposure even to small doses of heavy metals, organic compounds, pesticides and other toxic chemicals can cause many problems for humans and aquatic organisms. Look for industries that may be releasing toxins into the water and inform them that what they are doing is endangering the community. Often, that is all it will take to get them to clean up their act. However, you may have to be prepared to take the issue to local authorities and the media.
  
  
  

Addressing the Individual

In the final analysis, sustainable water use comes down to the individual. Following are some key areas in which an individual can take action to conserve water and to keep current water supplies free of contamination. Some of the tips may be obviously more useful in developed countries, while others are more aptly suited for developing countries.

• Filter your water. Unless you know for sure that your water supply is clean, don't take chances with your health. If it is possible, consult with a knowledgeable source to get the best available filters for your region. If there are none, boil the water for at least five minutes to ensure that any bacterial organisms are killed. If none of the above is possible, use iodine (two drops per litre) or chlorine tablets. Filter your water.
  
  
• Conserve energy. This is important , especially if you live in a community depending on a coal-burning power plant to provide electricity. Remember, the sulfur and nitrogen oxides from this plant fall back to Earth and into your water supply as acid rain. (See chapter on Energy.)Conserve energy
  
  
• Be careful what you throw away. What goes around comes around. What you throw into the sewer or stream will come right back at you through your kitchen sink or shower.
  
  
• Try to use a clean detergent. Many of the phosphates that cause algae blooms come from detergents. See the chapter on Waste for more information about this issue.
  
  
• Use water efficiently. Turning the tap off when you are not using it is the simplest and most effective way to save water. Whether washing your hands, brushing your teeth or shaving, turn the water on only when you need it.
  
  
• Spread the word. By getting your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to all take action on water issues, the collective impact will make a big difference. This holds true for all environmental issues.
  
  
• Write now, right now. If your local water source is contaminated, encourage the relevant authorities through letter writing to test the drinking water and clean it up.
  
  
  

Empowering Communities in Tegucigalpa
A Success Story

Another problem that arises out of a lack of access to clean drinking water is the loss of productive time required to haul it in-often from miles away from home. In the crowded shantytowns of Honduras, a community was transformed when water became accessible at the village.

The changes to the community began when the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) joined forces with the Honduran National Water and Sanitation Agency (SANAA) to initiate the delivery of water to the barrios through a variety of innovative options. To deliver water to the poor, systems that function separately from the main water supply network were needed. SANAA's main system, which serves 68 per cent of the city, was already experiencing water shortages, especially during the seven-month-long dry season. Moreover, the rapidly growing squatter population lives mostly in communities above 1,150 metres in elevation, where it is not economical to extend the main system. To handle the problem, SANAA created a special unit to deal with water in the rural areas and designed three non-conventional supply options: drilling independent wells, trucking water to a community storage tank, and selling water from the existing network.

After nearly five years of expanding efforts, a coalition of agencies and communities has succeeded in bringing water to nearly 50,000 people. Together SANAA and UNICEF continue to tap unconventional sources and cement new alliances in bringing water to the rural areas of Honduras. Recently, they turned to the city's Chamber of Commerce to attract businesses interested in the sales that construction of new water systems could generate. Under the conditions set out by SANAA-UNICEF, the monthly water tariff in rural areas is adjusted to recover capital costs as well as expenses.

Underpinning the success of the SANAA-UNICEF approach is strong community involvement, which springs partially from pre-existing local organizations. Despite their poverty and varied backgrounds, rural residents have common goals and have organized themselves to plan their communities, secure services and ensure their rights are recognized. The resulting system of local representation provides a strong foundation for building local water committees. In turn, these committees were effective in coordinating local efforts and administering the system once it had been completed.

Trapping Fog to Meet Water Needs
A Success Story

The pressures of demographic growth and rising demand for fresh water often necessitate the exploration of non-conventional sources. Nowhere is this more true than in the many arid regions around the world where there is no regular rainfall nor any rivers. In one such region, fog was harnessed to meet a community's freshwater needs. If conditions are suitable, the collection and use of fog water deserves serious consideration.

The first known project to harness fog for water was initiated in northern Chile, where, in the town of Chungungo, the cost of providing water had risen to almost US $8 per inhabitant per day. The cost of water, in addition to the difficulty of transporting it over a broken and rutted road, was an unbearable burden for the villagers. Had it not been highly subsidized by the municipality, the cost would have been equivalent to forty percent of the average family income.

In November 1987, Chilean universities and the Corporacion Nacional Forestal (National Forestry Corporation) initiated the project to collect water from the fog covering a nearby mountain, using "fog traps." Fifty collectors measuring 48 square metres each were erected above the town. The material used was a double-layer polypropylene mesh net, which costs little and is produced in Chile. The mesh collectors are entirely passive devices, requiring no energy. In addition, since collectors are normally situated on terrain higher than surrounding settlements, water can be delivered by gravity flow. The system gathers an average of 7,200 litres of water a day, a yield that was obtained even during three consecutive years of drought.

Today in Chungungo water from fog traps costs only a quarter as much as water transported by road, amounting to US $1.87 per cubic metre on the basis of amortizing the project over 20 years. The villagers are in charge of maintenance and administration. And, for the first time in their history, the fishermen have begun to cultivate family vegetable gardens.

The project is now establishing alternative water supply systems for all of the populated areas along the coastal desert of Chile. The Chilean example was so successful, it inspired other similar initiatives elsewhere, including in the neighbouring country of Peru and on the other side of the world in the Sultanate of Oman.

Taking Freshwater from the Sea
A Success Story

Since up to 80 per cent of humanity lives near coastal areas, many communities are turning to the sea as a source of freshwater. The methods of converting salt or brackish water into fresh vary from large urban systems to simple homemade devices, and include both evaporation and filtration techniques.

Since the early 1980s, Professor Felix A. Ryan of Madras, India has researched ways to bring simple desalination technology to the rural poor. His organization, the Ryan Foundation, has promoted many innovative methods for communities to gain access to clean water, some of which can be easily constructed out of such easily-obtainable materials as cloth, plastic tubs and clay. Ryan, who has received a UN Global 500 award for his environmental achievements in developing countries, believes it is better for villages and households to provide their own source of drinking water, rather than relying on central governments hundreds of miles away to bring it to them in long systems of unreliable pipes.

In one of his techniques, called the "domestic still," Ryan places a small tub inside a larger tub. In the larger tub are placed two 750 ml. bottles of salt or brackish water. A plastic sheet is then placed over the top of the larger tub, with the centre depressed down into the small empty tub (but without touching it) so that it looks like an inverse cone. The contraption is left all day in the hot sun. The heat causes the salt or brackish water to evaporate. The steam rises up onto the inside of the inverted cone, and runs into the smaller tub as freshwater. This system can yield 750 ml. of freshwater on a hot day. If heat is applied below the larger tub, more fresh water can be obtained. For best results, Ryan says the system should be left overnight, so the water can condense.

Ryan continues to work indefatigably on behalf of all aspects of sustainability in the developing world. From his base in Madras, India, the professor produces numerous books to help the poor in the South to gain access to innovative technologies that can help improve their standards of living in a way that is both sustainable and affordable.

Contact:

References

Household Waste-Issues and Opportunities, CONCERN, Inc., Washington, D.C.; December 1992 - NGO Fresh Water Treaty, Global Forum / UNCED, Rio de Janeiro, 1992 - Water Profile, United Nations Environment Programme, 1990 - The Chemical Free Lawn, Schultz, Warren, Rodale Press, 1989 - 50 Simple Things you can do to save the Earth, the Earth Works Press, Berkeley, California, 1989 - Graywater Use in the Landscape, Edible Publications, Santa Rosa, California, 1989 - Safeguarding Oceans and Water Resources, Background Paper for the Interparliamentary Conference on the Global Environment May 1990 - World Resources, 1994-95: A Guide to the Global Environment, a report by the World Resources Institute with UNEP and UNDP, Oxford University Press, 1994 - Youth Action Guide on Sustainable Development, Hrabar, Dean and Ciparis, Ramona, AIESEC International, London, 1990.

All photos, text and illustrations Copyright ©1996 The United Nations Environment Programme.