Introduction
Water demand is growing gradually while the water resources are being depleted and degraded. Without achieving any efficiency levels in water usage; by 2030, the water demand will reach to a level which is 40% above the current available water resources. Since water is used in lots of sectors such as industry, agriculture and domestic activity; water scarcity will result in bringing more challenges in other areas such as food and energy security. Therefore, solving challenges in water supply will also help to meet the requirements of related activities. This study tries to find solutions for the future water challenges and elaborates paths to sustainable water resources for both policymakers and companies.
Solution Paths for Water Challenge
Some general solutions offered by this report are:
Improvements in Agriculture
Agricultural activity corresponds to 71% of water withdrawals and thus agriculture plays a significant role in water challenge. Thus, decreasing the water amount used per crop would have a great effect by using efficient practices such as:
Improved drip and sprinkler irrigation
No-till farming
Developed drainage
Efficient fertilizer use
Seed development
Crop stress management
See Box 1 for Indian case for agricultural improvement.
Box 1 - Agricultural Improvement Potential in India
Agricultural improvement in India would have a significant effect according to cost curve analysis made by the report. Irrigation and rain-fed crop production measures would be able to narrow the water supply-demand gap by 80%. And the 20% of the gap can be closed through renewal of the existing irrigation system and completion of canals. These measures only account for $6 billion per year which is approximately 0.1% of India’s GDP in 2030. Also, if these agricultural measures are taken $83 billion increase is projected in agricultural income in India by 2030. In conclusion, besides tackling with the water challenge, the measures taken to close the gap contribute to Indian economy.
Efficiency in industry and municipal activities
Another big percentage of water consumption is caused by industry and domestic use. Industrial water demand corresponds to 16% of the total water demand and anticipated to increase to 22% by 2030. For this reason, many improvements should be done in industry such as:
Paste thickening and water recycling in mining industry
Dry-cooling
Wastewater reuse
See Box 2 for Chinese case for increasing efficiency in industry.
Box 2 - Efficiency improvement potential in China
China can close its water gap by 25% if the necessary measures are taken in industries which are power, pulp and paper, textile, steel and wastewater reuse industries. When improvements in industrial efficiency, application of the water-conscious programs and regulations are implemented, besides narrowing the gap, China saves $22 billion annually. The cost of closing the remaining percentage of the gap costs approximately 0.06% of China’s GDP in 2030.
Improvements in quality and quantity of water
Also, the quantity of good quality water is very important for practical usage and environmental reasons. Some ways to preserve and improve the water quality are suggested by the study:
Industries should reduce the water use via levers such as valve spring and sensitivity sensor technologies.
Wastewater reuse should be improved and more spread. The waste-water can be reused in many areas such as industry and public works.
Coordination of solutions in all sectors
The efficiency measures should be taken across all sectors such as agriculture, production, industry and domestic activities. Thus, an integrated approach towards water challenge is very essential.
The report has developed tools, which are the cost curve and gap models, in order to analyse aforementioned solutions and improvements in those areas and compare them. The cost curve is an information provider for the cost of delivering water with existing or new technologies thus, it enables decision-makers to compare different solution options. As a general path the report suggests that for each solution scenario cost curve should be prepared; and options should be assessed and discussed.
This path towards finding solutions is possible with the cooperation and efforts of both private sector and government. For this reason, the study suggests specific ways to deal with water challenge for both policymakers and companies.
Solution paths for policymakers
Besides analysing the cost of the proposed solution, it is very important for policymakers to assess the difficulty of implementation and possible outcomes of that solution. Therefore; the study offers a cost curve approach for policymakers in order to asses and compare solutions for water challenge. The stages of the cost curve approach are:
Determination of the measures on the cost curve based on factors affecting the difficulty of the implementation of the solution: The difficulties in real life sometimes may not appear on the financial analysis thus, it is necessary to assess the feasibility of the solutions and determine the possible barriers beforehand.
Creating scenarios in order to measure the impact of decisions and solutions taken by policymakers: From the cost curve analysis of the scenarios, policymakers can learn how economy and water supply-demand will be affected.
Creation of a payback curve in order to economic consequences of decisions for end-user: A payback curve shows how long it will take for the end-user to reach to his expectations from an investment. For this reason, it is necessary for policymakers to analyse the payback curves of the solutions so that they can make some investments more preferable and attractive for the investors.
Solution paths for private sector
The water challenge is also very important for private sector. Therefore, guidelines for them how to improve their efficiency and take some measures against water challenge is very essential. The study categorizes the private sector into five sectors and gives specific to context advices:
Agriculture: Agriculture is important for both water and food security. Therefore, increasing efficiency and productivity in agriculture will play a significant role tackle with those challenges. For this reason, farmers, food chain actors and government should be encouraged to act jointly.
Financial institutions: Water needs investment in order to have more efficient system. That is why the study suggests that the cost curves should be used in order to analyse the financial costs and barriers, as a result better investment plans can be constructed.
Large Industries: Large industries such as mining, petroleum, metals and energy companies face water and energy challenge. And these challenges get more severe due to decreasing water resources and increasing water pollution. With the help of cost curve analysis, these large industry companies should invest in water- efficient technologies such as dry cooling, fluidized-bed combustion in power generation and paste tailings in mining.
Technology suppliers: Innovations in water technologies such as desalination, water reuse and improvements in crop protection and irrigation can have significant contributions to decrease the water supply-demand gap. See Box 1 for the explanation and comparison of desalination and irrigation. The cost curve can be used to predict the market situation and cost of the innovation. For example, membrane technology in China is very expensive, however, in the future when the water challenge gets stronger, water treatment technologies will be required and the market of membrane technology will improve. So technology providers are very important to address the challenge and offer innovations according to market.
Construction: Besides improving efficiency of current technologies, also construction is still needed in order to be able to supply water. The cost curve can be used to determine the required infrastructure.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, this report tries to show that water challenge can be handled with possible and reasonable solutions. However, it cannot happen by itself. For this reason; the report emphasizes the fact that the current situation cannot continue as it is; improvements, innovations and transformations are necessary in order to deal with the water challenge. Even though, lots of barriers may appear in the way of change such as lack of knowledge and awareness, wrong incentives and institution-based barriers; these obstacles can be overcome through collaboration and continuous action. Also, governments’ role as a supporter is very crucial in order to eliminate barriers and achieve improvements. Incentives such as better-defined ownership rights, tariffs, quotas, better pricing and introducing standards can help to encourage individuals as well as private sectors towards more efficient use of water.
Unfortunately, in the real world, the data on economy and market is inadequate and the management is not transparent. For this reason, creating a fact-based system is very essential so that the progresses made and the water supply-demand gap can be observed and necessary actions can be taken more easily. Relatively, for the stakeholders, it is necessary for them to access the same transparent data so that more adequate and effective solutions can be implemented. Also while making decisions, decision-makers should not only consider the cost or feasibility of a solution, also possible consequences of that solution should be taken into consideration such as impacts on economic growth, job opportunities, politics and market.
Another important fact that should be considered is the future impacts of global climate change are still unknown. For this reason; the level of water challenge in the future is also uncertain, creating more urgency and importance on taking action. Therefore, for both policymakers and private sector the change and developments for water should be prioritized.
