Water the facts

New Internationalist, March, 2003

Over the past century our water consumption increased tenfold. According to the World Health Organization, 1.1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water, while some 2.4 billion lack proper sanitary provision.

BASICS

On our blue planet 97.5% of the water is saltwater, unfit for human use.

The majority of freshwater is beyond our reach, locked into polar snow and ice.

Less than 1% of freshwater is usable, amounting to only 0.01% of the Earth's total water. (1)

Even this would be enough to support the world's population three times over, if used with care. (2)

However, water -- like population -- isn't distributed evenly. Asia has the greatest annual availability of freshwater and Australia the lowest. But when population is taken into account the picture looks very different.

WHERE'S IT GOING?

Our increasing thirst is a result of growing population, industrial development and the expansion of irrigated farming. In the past 40 years, the area of irrigated land has doubled. (3)

World water use (2)


Agriculture  70%
Domestic      8%
Industrial   22%

Note: Table made from pie chart

Water use, selected countries, 2000 (3)

                      Domestic  Industrial  Agriculture

         Afghanistan            5%          99%
Aotearoa/New Zealand  46        10          44
           Australia  15        10          75
              Brazil  21        18          61
             Britain  20        77           3
              Canada  11        80           8
               China  11        21          69
               Ghana  35        13          52
               India   5         3          92
              Israel  16         5          79
               Japan  19        17          64
                  US  12        46          42

Note: Table made from bar graph

Average water (in litres) needed to produce a kilo of food (5)


Potatoes   1,000
Maize      1,400
Wheat      1,400
Rice       3,450
Chicken    4,600
Beef      42,500

SIGNS OF STRESS

By the mid-1990s, 80 countries home to 40% of world population encountered serious water shortages. Worst affected are Africa and the Middle East.

By 2025 two-thirds of the world's people will be facing water stress. The global demand for water will have grown by over 40% by then. (1)

The only ray of hope is that the growth in actual use of water has been slower than predicted. (3)

People without access to a safe water supply, 2000 (in millions) (4)

Region                         Rural  Urban  Total

Africa                         256     44      300
Asia                           595     98      693
Latin America & the Caribbean   49     29       78
Oceania                          3      0        3
Europe                          23      3       26
North America                    0      0        0
World                          926    174    1,100

IN SICKNESS AND HEALTH

Dirty water is the cause of numerous diseases, it improving hygiene and sanitation are equally important in order to cure water- related diseases.

Diseases of contamination There are 4 billion cases of diarrhoea worldwide each year and 2.2 million avoidable deaths-that's a death every 14 seconds. (1) Most diarrhoeal deaths occur in the Majority World and just being able to wash one's hands with soap and water can reduce diarrhoea by 35%. (2)

Insect-related diseases Malaria, borne by water-breeding mosquitoes, is the biggest killer, causing 1-2 million deaths a year. At any given time 100 million people suffer from the disease. (1)

Parasites Intestinal worms infect about 10% of the Majority World population. About 200 million people are affected by schistosomiasis (bilharzia), with 200,000 dying each year. After a peak in the late 1980s, guinea-worm infections have been declining as water sources are better monitored. (1,3)

NEEDING AND GETTING

The recommended water requirement per person per day is 50 litres But people can get by with about 30 litres: 5 litres for drinking and cooking and another 25 to maintain hygiene. The reality for millions comes nowhere near.

Populations using the least amount of water

            Litres of water
            used per person
Country     per day

Gambia            4.5
Mali              8.0
Somalia           8.9
Mozambique        9.3
Uganda            9.3
Cambodia          9.5
Tanzania         10.1

By contrast the average US citizen uses 500 litres per day, while the
British average is 200. (2)

The rural poor

People in rural areas are four times more likely than those in cities to have no safe supply of water. The burden falls unequally on women who sometimes have to walk for hours to fetch water. A jerrycan of water with a capacity of 18 litres weighs 20 kilos.

The urban poor

They are less likely than the well-off to be connected to mains water supplies and pay on average 12 times more per litre. In Jakarta, Indonesia the poor pay water vendors 60 times the price of water from a standard connection; in Karachi, Pakistan, 83 times; and in Port-au-Prince, 100 Haiti and Nouakchott, Mauritania, times.