Washington (People's Daily) -- About one-quarter of the world's population faces extremely high water stress and "once-unthinkable water crises are becoming commonplace," according to a report by the Washington DC-based World Resources Institute (WRI).

(File photo: VCG)

WRI's report reveals that 17 countries – home to one-quarter of the world's population—face "extremely high" levels of baseline water stress, where irrigated agriculture, industries and municipalities withdraw more than 80% of their available supply on average every year.

Multiple factors aggravate water resource pressure

Data show that more than 1 billion people worldwide live in areas with water shortages, and as many as 3.5 billion people will face water shortages by 2025.

"Between 1960 and 2014, the world has become 250% more thirsty. Which means we withdraw 2.5 times more water than we did five decades ago," Rutger Hofste, an associate at the WRI, told the People's Daily. Population increases, changing diets and increased variability due to climate change will aggravate the situation.

The Middle East and North Africa are the most water-stressed regions on earth, according to the report. Of the 17 countries and regions suffering from extreme water shortages, 12 are in the Middle East and North Africa, with Qatar the worst hit, followed by Israel and Lebanon. In Africa, Libya and Eritrea are under the most pressure. India is facing a tough situation at number 13. Many parts of India face chronic water pressure, and groundwater resources, mainly for irrigation, are severely overdrawn, especially given that India has three times the population of the16 other worst-hit countries and regions.

The report also shows that even in countries with less overall water stress, there are areas of extreme water scarcity. For example, the western cape in South Africa and New Mexico in the United States are facing extreme water shortages.

Dealing with water stress is urgent

"Water stress is the biggest crisis no one is talking about. Its consequences are in plain sight in the form of food insecurity, conflict and migration, and financial instability," said Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the WRI. 

Water stress affects the functioning and development of many sectors of the economy and needs to be addressed through continued exploration of ways to manage water resources. The Middle East and North Africa, for example, are likely to suffer the most from climate-induced water shortages, estimated to account for 6-14% of the region's GDP by 2050, according to the World Bank. "This requires us to place a high value on water, to properly manage and revalue this valuable resource," Hofste said.

According to the report, three approaches are most directly effective in addressing the water crisis: improving agricultural efficiency, investing in water infrastructure and sustainable water recycling. To improve agricultural efficiency, the report proposed letting the food system play a greater role in valuing every drop of water. The report suggested improving irrigation technology. The financial sector can provide water production investment funds. Engineers can improve the efficiency of agricultural technology. Consumers can reduce the loss and waste of food.

In terms of investment in water infrastructure, established infrastructure such as pipelines and treatment plants and green infrastructure such as wetlands can work together to address water and water quality issues. "We need to stop treating wastewater as waste. Treating and reusing wastewater creates a new source of water, and there are some useful resources in wastewater that can help reduce water treatment costs," the reported suggested.

The response of many countries to the water crisis is encouraging. Oman, which ranks 16th on the list of countries extremely short of water, processes 100% of its collected wastewater and reuses 78% of it. Saudi Arabia, in eighth place, has encouraged conservation and set a target of reducing water use by 43 per cent over the next 10 years. Namibia, one of the driest countries in the world, has been trying to convert sewage into drinking water for the past 50 years.

China's water management is remarkable

According to the report, with more than one-third of the land facing high or very high water resource pressure, China faces medium to high water resource pressure. However, China has made great progress in water resource management, which impressed the project team's experts.

"China has made big progress on water use and management by adopting a series of policies and measures," Fu Xiaotian, the director with the China water project at the WRI, told the People's Daily. Most recently, water conservation has become the top priority of water management work of China. The importance of demand management has also been gradually recognized.

According to Fu, China implemented mandatory requirements on capping water consumption, increasing water use efficiency, and reducing water pollution in 2012. Following on this, China published the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, which further requires improved water use efficiency in different sectors. Besides these overall plans, many incentive measures, such as water taxes and environment taxes have been adopted to push water-intensive enterprises to adopt water-saving technologies and move to sustainable, green and resource-efficient models.