{"id":6017,"date":"2022-03-09T11:09:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T11:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarasinandpartners.com\/za\/?p=6017"},"modified":"2022-04-01T10:43:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T09:43:34","slug":"the-world-is-waking-up-to-water-scarcity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarasinandpartners.com\/za\/think\/the-world-is-waking-up-to-water-scarcity\/","title":{"rendered":"The world is waking up to water scarcity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world\u2019s supply of fresh water is finite, but demand is rising. Pollution and climate change will only make this worse. Private companies and investors can play a vital role in addressing the world\u2019s need for sustainable fresh water.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Water, water everywhere<\/strong><\/h3>\n

About 71% of the earth's surface is covered in water, but only 3% of the world\u2019s water is fresh. Of this 3%, a mere 0.5% is available for us to use. This is because most of the earth\u2019s fresh water is locked up in glaciers, polar ice caps and the atmosphere or lies deep underground. Furthermore, a growing proportion of the \u2018fresh\u2019 water available to us is polluted and unfit for domestic, industrial and agricultural use.<\/p>\n

While the earth\u2019s population has grown rapidly, the amount of water available remains broadly the same.<\/p>\n

\"dry<\/p>\n

Clean water is a basic need<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Clean water is essential to us all: to ensure that basic social needs are met and a nation\u2019s economic development is secured, water availability must be sustainable. The current high use of water is largely unsustainable and the price paid for it is too low to accurately reflect its true value.<\/p>\n

Current water use is also a cause of inequality, with overconsumption in some areas while other regions suffer stress and scarcity. Residents of poor countries are four times less likely to move to escape issues such as water scarcity or pollution and seek better living and working conditions.<\/p>\n

To focus efforts on addressing these issues, the UN has singled out the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030 as one of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.<\/p>\n

Demand is rising<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Demand for water is rising, primarily due to population growth and associated agricultural and industrial use. Between 2012 and 2050, water demands are expected to increase by 400% from manufacturing, and by 130% from household use.1 <\/sup>However, the largest source of increasing demand for fresh water is agriculture, especially in Asia.<\/p>\n

By 2030, billions of people around the world will be unable to access safely managed household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services unless the rate of progress in providing sustainable water and sanitation quadruples.2 <\/sup><\/p>\n

The cost to business<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The potential costs of water-related risks to business is estimated by CPD to be $301bn, five times higher than the cost of taking action to improve corporate water use. This makes water scarcity the biggest climate-related threat to corporate assets within the next few decades. Most at risk are physical assets with fixed locations owned by companies in the utilities, materials, energy and consumer staples sector.<\/p>\n

Companies themselves are increasingly aware of what could be at stake. It is heartening to see a 20%\u00a0surge in companies disclosing water data in 2020, but action has been mixed. Almost two-thirds of companies are reducing or maintaining their water withdrawals, but progress remains stagnant on pollution, with just\u00a04.4%\u00a0of companies making progress against pollution reduction targets.3 <\/sup><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Source: FAO, Aquastat. <\/em>Total freshwater use has increased by a factor of six over the past 100 years and continues to rise by 1-2% annually. Agriculture is the largest source of new demand, followed by industry.<\/em><\/p>\n

Water pollution: squandering one of our most precious resources<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Globally, water quality is deteriorating, the main culprits being industrial and municipal waste, agricultural fertiliser run-off, climate change and poor or ageing infrastructure that cannot keep pace with rising populations.<\/p>\n

Nearly all major rivers in Africa, Asia and South America have experienced a marked decline in water quality since the 1990s. Developed areas of the world also face pollution issues. In the UK, recent improvements in water testing have revealed that most of the UK\u2019s waterways and rivers contain previously unidentified pollution.<\/p>\n

Agricultural practices, particularly the widespread use of nitrogen-based fertilisers, have become a major source of water pollution over the past 60 years, with nitrogen run-off causing aquatic life to decline.<\/p>\n

\"graph<\/p>\n

Source: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations FAOSTAT database: https:\/\/www.fao.org\/faostat\/en\/#data\/RA; Roser and Ritchie 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

The increasing use of nitrogen fertiliser is a major contributor to poor water quality and degradation of the natural environment<\/em><\/p>\n

Climate change will intensify water scarcity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Overall, our planet has plenty of rain, but not necessarily where we need it most. Climate change will only exacerbate current problems associated with weather patterns and water scarcity. Wet areas of the world will get wetter, while dry areas of the world will become a lot drier.<\/p>\n

Changing weather patterns are already having a significant impact on poorer areas of the world, and are also beginning to affect everyday life in developed areas. A recent eye-opening example of this is the ongoing worldwide shortage of semiconductors. Taiwan-based TSMC, one of the world\u2019s largest manufacturers of the semiconductors, uses 150,000 tonnes of purified water per day. A contributing factor to the shortage was a drought in Taiwan that forced TSMC to reduce production in order to preserve water for domestic and agricultural use.<\/p>\n

More than 85% of people affected by rainfall variability live in low- or middle-income countries, so these changes will create further inequality between rich and poor.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world\u2019s supply of fresh water is finite, but demand is rising. Pollution and climate change will only make this worse. Private companies and investors can play a vital role in addressing the world\u2019s need for sustainable fresh water. 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