CONTENTS
Chapters
- The Coming Water Crisis
- Water Availability and Use
- Facing Water Shortages
- Consequences of Overuse and Pollution
- The Health Dimension
- Water Conservation and Management
- Toward a Blue Revolution
HIGHLIGHTS
Population Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA
Volume XXVI, Number 1
September, 1998 |
The Need for Better Policies
Freshwater is the liquid that lubricates development. It is as much
an economic input as are infrastructure, energy, and human know-how (130).
Without better management of scarce water supplies, sustainable development
is impossible (17, 198, 218). Four principal
policy weaknesses, in general, underscore the world's inability to manage
freshwater supplies for sustainable development, according to Ismail Serageldin,
Vice President for Environmentally Sustainable Development at the World
Bank (164):
- Water management is fragmented among sectors and institutions.
There are too many
agencies with their fingers on the water tap and virtually no coordination of policies between
sectors of the economy. Issues of water quality and health often go entirely unaddressed because
they do not fit within the mandate of any single government agency.
- Governments depend too much on centralized administration to develop, operate, and
maintain water systems. Agencies charged with managing water supplies often are already
overextended and lack technical competence. At the same time, there is little stakeholder
involvement and community participation in setting water policies and regulating use, so projects
often do not meet people's needs.
- Most countries undervalue freshwater as a resource and do not price it at its economic
value. Many heavy users of water, such as farmers, receive government subsidies and in effect
are encouraged to waste water that they otherwise probably would not waste. Most governments
have found it politically more palatable to develop new water supplies than to charge heavy users
the full costs of water.
- Water management policies do not link the quality of water to human and environmental
health. In most cases water is viewed as a resource to be pumped around and used as often and as
much as needed for any purpose. Without adequate consideration of water's key role in human
and environmental health, it is little wonder that water resources are degraded nearly everywhere.
Freshwater is the universal necessity—providing all forms of life with sustenance, nurturing
natural ecosystems, and transporting and diluting wastes. Without assured supplies of freshwater,
living standards decline, people suffer, and development becomes more difficult. Insuring
sustainable development increasingly will require wise policies and effective strategies that not
only conserve and protect freshwater sources but also manage them equitably to meet the needs
of consumers, industry, and agriculture. |
