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A new report from the World Resources Institute (WRI) indicates that water stress is the worst it’s ever been worldwide. Twenty-five countries are now regularly using up nearly their entire water supply, while half the world’s population experiences highly water-stressed conditions for one month or more each year, according to WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas.
In light of WRI’s findings and just in time for World Water Week, Francis Gassert, Vizzuality’s Strategy and Impact Lead and resident water expert, shares his personal insights on the social and environmental implications of global water stress, its connection to climate change, and potential solutions in an interview with Vizzuality’s Communications Specialist, Alex Wowra.
Alex: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me, Francis. Right before World Water Week, WRI has released their report in which they state that one quarter of the world’s population is facing extremely high water stress. Can you explain what this means for society and the environment?
Francis: When I think about water in my own life, I think about how long I run the faucet or shower. Water stress goes beyond that. It tells us about how much water is available to grow food, generate electricity, run factories and act as habitat for our fish and wildlife.
High levels of water stress mean a greater chance of drought affecting us, of electricity blackouts, supply chain disruption, famine, and conflict. They also translate to a loss of unique freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity.
Climate change becomes visible through extreme weather events such as increasingly severe droughts. (suburbanbloke, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Alex: Which role does water play in climate change? Aside from drought, are there any other extreme environmental conditions that are linked to water stress?
Francis: Water is probably the main way that humanity will experience climate change. Rather than water stress causing climate change — though there are energy implications of water use — water is how climate change will appear, whether as droughts, flooding, or sea level rise.
The best way to gain an intuitive understanding of climate change is through the physics of heat and water. Higher temperatures increase evaporation, and warmer air can hold more moisture. This means more water in the atmosphere and larger storms, which in turn leads to wetter wet seasons, dryer dry seasons, bigger floods, and longer deeper droughts. Warmer winters will also affect snow accumulation, and the seasonal river flows of areas that depend on snowmelt.
Alex: So is climate change causing water stress? What are the key contributing factors to water scarcity?
Francis: Both climate change and economic development are affecting water availability. In most places water stress is overwhelmingly caused by a growing demand for water to irrigate crops and to power industry.
Climate change is also affecting water availability but it happens in less linear ways. In many parts of the world, overall annual precipitation rates are increasing, but a greater portion of the rain comes in larger storms.
A few key regions are drying out due to climate change. In particular, the Mediterranean and Middle East, Southern Africa, the Southwestern United States, parts of Brazil, Chile, and Australia. Many of these are agriculturally important regions. Rising temperatures can compound the issue because crops drink more water when it’s hot.
Projected change in average annual precipitation rates by 2080 (Resource Watch).
Alex: So water stress clearly poses an increasingly urgent challenge to societies around the world. What can we do to mitigate it?
Francis: The first thing is to focus on agriculture. Over 90% of the water that is consumed worldwide is for irrigation. A good portion of this is for livestock feed, and an unreasonable amount is used for ethanol biofuel production.
Reducing meat consumption will help substantially. Just 100 grams of beef takes over 1500 liters of water to produce on average, about ten times the amount of water needed to produce an equivalent amount of plant protein and calories. So in your own life, it’s a bit counter-intuitive, the length of a shower will especially affect your energy footprint, but your choice of dinner is where the water is!
Another obvious solution is not growing biofuel crops. Biofuels were once thought to be climate-positive. But if you account for the land they take away food production they’re a major cause of deforestation, carbon emissions, and biodiversity loss.
Technical solutions to increase crop yields and irrigation efficiency will help a good bit too. From a policy perspective, reducing agricultural water subsidies where there isn’t enough water, and improving how water is allocated could make a big difference.
Beyond agriculture, thermal power plants are one of the largest consumers of water. Power plants generate electricity by harnessing the difference in heat between their boilers and the ambient temperature spin turbines. In order to maintain this heat difference, most power plants use a large amount of water for cooling. Accelerating the transition from fossil energy to wind and solar help both make power production more resilient to climate change and reduce water use.
Thermal power plants use significant amounts of water for cooling. (Npl-User1234, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Alex: Are there any developments that give you hope that we might be able to find ways to reduce water stress in significant ways?
Francis: Yes! Although global trends point towards more water stress, there are reasons to be optimistic. I’m particularly excited about recent alignments towards corporate action on water sustainability.
The Science Based Targets Network, a group of non-profit and scientific organizations, released guidelines for where and how companies should reduce their water footprints earlier this year, and the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive will require companies to report on their environmental impacts, including water, starting next year.
Companies operating in sectors that depend on water, such as the food and fashion industries, have both the influence and the responsibility to drive change. We have data and tools to identify optimal solutions for each watershed, along with the ability to distinguish between the leaders and those progressing more slowly.
Alex: Thank you for your time and insights. Have a wonderful day!
Francis: My pleasure.
To read more stories related to water and about Aqueduct, please visit our Aqueduct feature blog page.
