Global Water Security: an Engineering Perspective

This report from the U.K.’s Engineering the Future group looks at the risks that countries face from water shortages and how governments and organizations can manage their water supplies for future availability.

These four points, from the introduction to the report, lay ou the areas of focus:

1. Water underpins the very fabric of human life — our food and drink, the clothes we wear, the landscapes we enjoy, the societies we live in, the length and quality of our lives. The essential role that water plays in national life — in energy supply, infrastructure, economic growth, healthcare, education and culture — makes water a central concern for national policies. Because the water cycle is global, the availability, use and security of water transcend local, national and even continental boundaries.

2. Water security is under severe pressure from many sources; a world population explosion, rapid shifts of people from rural to urban areas, the impact of dietary change as countries develop, increasing pollution of water resources, the over-abstraction of groundwater and the not insignificant issues created by climate change.

3. The world is far from water secure. In many parts of the world the demand for water is already much greater than the available supply. This is not an issue that affects only developing countries, where water infrastructure is poor and where many people do not have access to safe drinking water, but also the developed world, where burgeoning demand simply cannot continue to be met. Water for agriculture and, therefore, food is not given sufficient attention on the global stage, where water supply and sanitation issues currently dominate. In order to move water for agriculture up the agenda on the global scene, water engineers, farmers, economists and policy makers will need to improve their communications with one another.

4. Water has traditionally been regarded as a free resource. Any costs for water are usually associated with the cost of processing and delivery alone, rather than assigning any inherent value to the resource. There is growing interest internationally in the use of water pricing to reduce demand as well as to generate revenue to cover the cost of providing water supplies and maintaining infrastructure.