Management of Freshwater Resources - Essay Example

Issues Related to The Management of Freshwater Resources. The total volume of water on Earth is about 400 million km 3of which only 2.5 per cent, or about 35 million km 3, is freshwater. Most freshwater occurs in the form of permanent ice or snow, locked up in Antarctica and Greenland, or in deep groundwater aquifers. The principal sources of water for human use are lakes, rivers, soil moisture and relatively shallow groundwater basins. The usable portion of these sources is only about 200 000 km of water - less than 1 per cent of all freshwater and only 0.01 per cent of all water on Earth. Much of this available water is located rather from human populations thus further complicating issues of water use. The replenishment of freshwater is dependant upon evaporation from the surface of the oceans. About 505,000 km, or a layer 1.4 metres thick, evaporates from the oceans annually. Another 72 000 km. evaporates from the land. About 80 percent of all precipitation, or about 458 000 km/year, falls on the oceans and the remaining 119,000 km/year falls on land. The difference between precipitation on land surfaces and evaporation from those surfaces (119 000 km3minus 72 000 km3annually) is run-off and groundwater recharge - approximately 47 000 km. annually (Gleick 1993). More than one-half of all run-off occurs in Asia and South America, and a large fraction occurs in a single river, the Amazon, which carries more than 6,000 km of water a year (Shiklomanov 1999). Water development projects during the 20th century have had significant impacts on freshwater ecosystems by eliminating marshes and wetlands, removing water for other uses, altering flows, and contaminating water with industrial and human wastes. In many rivers and lakes, ecosystem functions have been lost or impaired. In some areas, growing water demand has led to reductions in the volume of large rivers, affecting riverine and adjacent coastal areas (CSD 1997a). Reproductive failures and death in various wildlife species, particularly at higher levels in the food chain, have been reported as a result of high withdrawals of water (CSD 1997a). The importance of meeting basic human needs for water has always played a major role in water policy. One of the earliest comprehensive water conferences was held in 1977 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The focus on human needs led to the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade(1981-90) and the efforts of the United Nations and other international organizations to provide basic water services (UN 2000). The concept of meeting basic water needs was reaffirmed during the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and expanded to include ecological water needs. A United Nations report (UN 1999) recognized that all people require access to adequate amounts of safe water, for drinking, sanitation and hygiene. Indeed, the Second World Water Forum and Ministerial Conference in The Hague in 2000 produced a strong statement from more than 100 ministers in support of re-emphasizing basic human needs as a priority for nations, international organizations and donors. Providing urban dwellers with safe water and sanitation services has remained a particular challenge. Some 170 million developing country urban dwellers were provided with safe water and 70 million with appropriate sanitation during the first half of the 1990s but this had limited impact because about 300 million more urban residents still lacked access to safe water supply, while nearly 600 million lacked adequate sanitation by the end of 1994 (CSD 1997b). However, a major area of success in many developing countries is related to investments in wastewater treatment over the past 30 years which have 'halted the decline in - or actually improved - the quality of surfacewater' (World Water Council 2000b). Water quality Water quality problems can often be as severe as those of water availability but less attention has been paid to them, particularly in developing regions. Sources of pollution include untreated sewage, chemical discharges, petroleum leaks and spills, dumping in old mines and pits, and agricultural chemicals that are washed off or seep downward from farm fields. More than half of the world's major rivers are 'seriously depleted and polluted, degrading and poisoning the surrounding ecosystems, threatening the health and livelihood of people who depend on them' (World Commission on Water 1999). In the 1990s, many new efforts were made to monitor water quality and institute better policies and programmes (Meybeck, Chapman and Helmer 1990). For example, water quality monitoring programmes have been established for many international river basins, including the Danube, the Rhine, the Mekong, the Plate and the Nile. The UNEP-Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) Water Programme also provides water quality data and information for both assessment and management purposes. Groundwater About 2 billion people, approximately one-third of the world's population, depend on groundwater supplies, withdrawing about 20 per cent of global water (600-700 km) annually - much of it from shallow aquifers (UNDP and others 2000). Many rural dwellers depend entirely on groundwater. The issues of groundwater use and quality have until recently received far less attention (particularly in some developing regions) than surface water, and data on groundwater stocks and flows are even less reliable. However, in Europe, much attention has been paid to groundwater quality because many settlements depend on such resources for water supply. Generally, groundwater resources are vulnerable to a variety of threats, including overuse and contamination. When use exceeds natural recharge over a long period, groundwater levels drop. Parts of India, China West Asia, the former Soviet Union, the western United States and the Arabian Peninsula are experiencing declining water tables, limiting the amount that can be used and raising the costs of pumping to farmers (Postel 1997, UNEP 1999). Over pumping of groundwater can lead to salt-water intrusion in coastal areas. In Madras, India, for example, saltwater intrusion has moved 10 km inland, contaminating wells (UNEP 1996). Concern over growing problems related to groundwater resources has galvanized the international community, governments and other stakeholders to start addressing them. For example, the Second World Water Forum in March 2000 organized a special workshop on groundwater. Some of the recommendations arising from the workshop included the need to raise public awareness and 'improve information availability, quality and accessibility to stakeholders, technical specialists and policy-makers' (World Water Forum 2000). Transboundary water management Water is widely shared among nations, regions, ethnic groups and communities. A total of 261 rivers covering 45.3 per cent of the total land area (excluding Antarctica), are shared by two or more countries (Wolf and others 1999), making transboundary water resource management one of the most important water issues today. Disputes over shared water resources have a long history. Water has been used as a tool and weapon of conflict, access to water has been a source of dispute and contention, and major water development projects (for example dam construction) have led to violence and civil strife (Gleick 1998). But shared waters can also be a source of cooperation. This is particularly evident today with the increase in the number of initiatives related to river basin management regimes and institutions committed to bilateral and/or multilateral management of transboundary water resources. This can be traced back to the 1966 Helsinki Rules which laid the foundation for international principles for shared watercourses and influenced many specific river treaties. The Rules were subsequently followed up by various international efforts, including particularly the work of the UN International Law Commission, which led in 1997 to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. The impact of this new convention is already being felt with the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) adapting many of its principles in its revised protocol on shared watercourses. The recognition of river basin organization over the past 30 years has also resulted in the establishment of the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO) in 1996 (see box), while other initiatives include the 1998 International Conference on Water and Sustainable Development, which declared that "a common vision of riverine countries is needed for the efficient management and effective protection of transborder water resources". The conference's priority action programme (Bernard 1999) emphasized the need to: "facilitate the exchange of accurate and harmonized information among riverine countries; promote consultation at all levels, especially within pertinent international institutions and mechanisms; and define medium-range priority action programmes of common interest to improve water management and decrease pollution" In Brazil, virtually all the country's electricity comes from hydropower. The mining sector, especially in Chile and Peru, requires increasing quantities of water. For some regions such as the Andes, this may well lead to the need to import water in the near future. In Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, the petroleum sector is an important consumer. Conclusion It is clear that throughout the world, water is a precious resource that each country needs equally. Accordingly, it is important that each country work with each other to preserve out water resources and that each state within the countries, develop unified legislation which aid in the global efforts of water preservation. References Bernard, A. (1999). International Cooperation Through River Basin Commissions. Ramsar Convention Bureau http://www.ramsar.org/cop7_doc_20.2_e.htm [Geo- 2-116] CSD (1997a). Comprehensive Assessment of the Freshwater Resources of the World. Report of the Secretary-General. United Nations Economic and Social Council http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/cn17/1997/ecn171997-9.htm [Geo-2-117]. CSD (1997b). Overall Progress Achieved Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Report of the Secretary-General. Addendum - Protection of the Quality and Supply of Freshwater Resources: Application of Integrated Approaches to the Development, Management and Use of Water Resources. United Nations Economic and Social Council http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/cn17/1997/ec n171997-2add17.htm [Geo-2-118]. Gleick, P.H. (1998). The World's Water 1998-1999.Washington DC, Island Press. Gleick, P.H. (1993). Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Freshwater Resources. New York, Oxford University Press Meybeck, M., Chapman, D. and Helmer, R. (1990). Global Freshwater Quality: A First Assessment. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Basil Blackwell. Postel, S. (1997). Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last New York, W.W. Norton and Company. UNEP (1996). Groundwater: A Threatened Resource. Nairobi, UNEP. Shiklomanov, I.A. (1999). World Water Resources: Modern Assessment and Outlook for the 21stCentury. St. Petersburg, Federal Service of Russia for Hydrometeorology and Environment Monitoring, State Hydrological Institute. UN (1999). Comprehensive Assessment of theFreshwater Resources of the World. Report of the Secretary-General. United Nations Division for Sustainable Development http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/freshwat.htm [Geo- 2-121]. UN (2000). Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Update. Report No UNE/CN 17/2000/13. New York, Commission on Sustainable Development United Nations Population Division (2001). World Population Prospects 1950-2050 (The 2000 Revision). New York, United Nations www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2000/wpp2000h.pdf. World Commission on Water (1999). World's Rivers in Crisis - Some Are Dying; Others Could Die. World Water Council http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/Vision/6902B03 438178538C125683A004BE974.htm [Geo-2-124]. World Water Council (2000b). World Water Vision: Making Water Everyone's Business. London, Earthscan. Read More