These include extreme weather, natural and man-made disasters, climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.
These events destroy lives and livelihoods, and water is at the heart of the issue.
“Water insecurity will continue to cause ripple effects across global supply chains from manufacturing to agriculture, it will strain geopolitical ties and it will place untold pressure on the world’s poorest populations,” warns Mr Mung. Alex Mung, head of Water Initiative at the World Economic Forum (WEF). “The resilience of our society, both in terms of economic growth and human security, must be addressed through a water lens.”
While other global risks have peaked and subsided, water has stubbornly remained. It is the ultimate public goods challenge, complex and inter-connected across many aspects of society.
Tackling the issue requires collaborative, cross-sector solutions and a shift by all stakeholders to place a higher value on water.
“Let’s face it, water is chronically undervalued and, in some cases, not valued at all. Only by embedding its true financial, social and environmental value into policymaking, governance, and financial and risk reporting can we instil a better mentality,” says Mr Mung. “Take wastewater treatment and reuse: when water is valued properly, there are incentives to fully capture the benefits of a circular economy which can bring about a range of new innovations.”
In the agriculture sector, companies such as Microsoft are demonstrating how precision irrigation using smart sensors in fields can give information about soil conditions. Crop data, coupled with drone images of fields, and the use of artificial intelligence to interpret data and model a heat map of the crop area, can all help ensure water is used optimally in food production.
“Emerging fourth industrial revolution technologies – machine-learning, artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, satellite imagery, robotics and others – have the potential to unlock a wealth of previously unobtainable data about water systems at the global, regional, watershed and local level,” says Mr Mung.
Drink whisky, not water - South Africa Bad water -
“Combined with new forms of public-private collaboration, these technologies can support decision-makers across industry, government and civil society to balance trade-offs, identify common priorities and make smarter investment choices.”
How do you fit 130 litres of water in a single cup? The answer: fill it with coffee. Growing coffee beans is a thirsty business, as is growing cotton – 10,000 litres of water in a pair of jeans – and 2,500 litres in the average T-shirt. Avocados, almonds – even bottles of water themselves, are all highly water-intensive enterprises. Agriculture uses about 70% of freshwater across the globe.
Regions that export water-intensive crops are effectively exporting their water, in a trade known as “virtual water” or “invisible water”. Agricultural products are the most obvious trades in virtual water, but vast numbers of manufactured goods also require large quantities of water. When countries and regions with water shortages pour their water into exports, on the surface it can look as if they are making a profit, but in the long term their reliance on diminishing water resources will be damaging.
“The concept of virtual water can help countries that lack abundant water resources to meet food needs without using precious water for thirsty agricultural practices,” says Vincent Casey, senior manager at WaterAid. “It doesn’t make sense for Saudi Arabia to use vast quantities of limited water resources for agriculture when food grown elsewhere can be imported.”
Currently, 844 million people – about one in nine of the planet’s population – lack access to clean, affordable water within half an hour of their homes, and every year nearly 300,000 children under five die of diarrhoea, linked to dirty water and poor sanitation. Providing water to those who need it is not only vital to human safety and security, but has huge social and economic benefits too. Children lose out on education and adults on work when they are sick from easily preventable diseases. Girls in developing countries are worst off, as they frequently stop going to school at puberty because of a lack of sanitation, and girls and women travelling miles to fetch water or forced to defecate in the open are vulnerable to violence. Providing affordable water saves lives and reduces the burden on healthcare, as well as freeing up economic resources. Every £1 invested in clean water yields at least £4 in economic returns, according to the charity WaterAid.
It would cost just over £21bn a year to 2030, or 0.1% of global GDP, to provide water and hygiene to all those who need it, but the World Bank estimates that the economic benefits would be $60bn a year.
