WATER RESOURCES

On a hot day (in Wales, even in early in October) when thirsty I simply turn the tap and get cool drinkable water to quench my thirst. It is very easy to forget that no everyone on this planet has that simple luxury. The fact that it's warm at the moment is down to weather rather than global warming. However, that said, it's worth noting that with global warming will come drought, which is the real silent killer.

The International Institute of Tropical Agricultural (in Nigeria) estimated in 2008 that by 2010 some 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa (nearly a third of the region's population) would be suffering from malnutrition because of the on-going drought. By a strange quirk of fate most people don’t die of hunger during a drought, they die from dysentery and other disease which are spread by poor living conditions and a lack of sanitation. It has been estimated that around 1.6 million children per year die from a lack of access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation.

The Hadley Centre for Climate Change has noted that there has been a 25% increase in worldwide drought through the 1990’s. It has been estimated that around 3% of the planets surface area is affected by extreme drought conditions. This figure could rise to around 30% if the climatic effects of global warming kick in big time and this excludes those areas affected by moderate drought conditions.

Now according to UNESCO, our planet has plenty of fresh water, the problem is a combination of uneven distribution, combined with mismanagement of limited resources and the fact that we harvest water on an industrial scale. UNESCO estimates that around 1.1 billion people do not have drinking water supplies and around 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Of this figure over half live in India and China not to mention the millions in sub-Saharan and tropical Africa.

By 2030, UNESCO has estimated that we will need approximately 55 percent more food, hence a need for more water for irrigation, something that already takes around 70 percent of all the water currently consumed by humanity. Factor in rapid urbanisation in developing and developed countries (UNESCO research projects that 2/3rds of the population of the planet will live in urban areas by 2030 – many in slums and squatter camps), and you begin to see the potential (if not the actual) scale of the problem and how access to fresh water and sanitation will be an ongoing problem.

When it comes to developing our nations water resources we need much more than short –term thinking and fast-buck solutions, we need sustainable long-term solutions. There is a distinct possibility that drought and major water shortages and other related crisis's may be a regular feature of life in the 21st century, pretending that it won't happen (here or elsewhere) is not an option. What's also not an option is for multi-national companies to move in and run (for a fat profit) state water resources in the developing world (or the developed world) for the benefit of distant shareholders (and the local elite be they elected or merely local tyrants) at the behest of the World Bank and the IMF.