Water Scarcity

Between 2000 and 2030, Asia's urban population is projected to grow from 1.4 billion to 2.6 billion; such rapid growth can dramatically increase per capita use of freshwater. Here, a muddy slum in Agra, India, with the Taj Mahal in the far distance.

The era of globalization is going to confront, among many other things, the challenge of the growing population, deterioration of environmental quality, and scarcities of certain resources that are indispensable necessities for the sustenance of life on Earth. Of all the planet's renewable resources, the availability of freshwater is likely to pose the greatest challenge because of an increased demand with population rise and economic activities and shrinking supplies due to overexploitation and pollution. The availability of this key natural resource in acceptable quality, in adequate quantity, in the appropriate places, and at the time needed is very important. On a planet whose surface is more than two-thirds covered by water, the illusion of abundance has clouded the reality that renewable freshwater is an increasingly scarce commodity because only a very small proportion of this is effectively available for human use. The water available on Earth is in finite quantity that has not changed over millennia. This has to be juxtaposed with increasing demands from a growing population. The population of the world, currently around six billion, is expected [Page 495]to exceed eight billion by 2050. Aside from sheer numbers, the processes of urbanization and development are also expected to vastly increase the demand for freshwater. This situation of a finite supply and a growing demand leads to the projections of water scarcity, which could be severe in some parts of the world.

Worldwide, three-fourths of all current population growth has been experienced in urban areas, and particularly cities are gaining an estimated 55 million people per year. The world's population is quickly becoming urbanized as people migrate to cities for better opportunities. In 1950, less than 30 percent of the world's population lived in cities. This number grew to 47 percent in 2000 (2.8 billion people), and this is expected to grow to 60 percent by 2025. Developed nations have a higher percentage of urban residents than do less developed countries. However, urbanization is occurring rapidly in many less developed countries, and it is expected that most urban growth will occur in less developed countries during the next decades. Urbanization and rapid growth in urban population can dramatically increase per capita use of freshwater. Fast population growth with accelerated urbanization, combined with scarce water supplies, means that governments all over the world often cannot supply enough water to meet demand. According to a World Bank study, of the 27 Asian cities with populations over 1 million, Chennai and Delhi are ranked as the worst-performing metropolitan cities in terms of hours of water availability per day, while Mumbai is ranked as second-worst performer and Calcutta, fourth worst.

Globally, all future population growth will take place in cities, especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In Asia and Africa, this growth will signal a shift from a rural to an urban base, changing a millennia-long trend. Between 2000 and 2030, the urban population in Africa and Asia is projected to double. Asia's urban population will grow from 1.4 billion to 2.6 billion. Africa's urban population will surge to more than twice its size, from 294 million to 742 million. Latin America and the Caribbean Islands will see urban population rise from 394 million to 609 million. By 2030, 79 percent of the world's urban dwellers will live in the developing world's towns and cities. Africa and Asia will account for almost seven out of every 10 urban inhabitants globally, and poor people will make up a large part of future urban growth. How to provide clean, potable drinking water to the cities, especially to the urban poor, is the challenge that civic bodies face all over the world.

...