Water – An investment in the future

08.09.2010

Water is the oil of the 21st century. Not as a fuel, but as a trading commodity and a source of conflict. On 28 July 2010 the UN declared that access to clean water is a human right. A shortage of water is at the top of the list of those problems that mankind must solve as a priority in the 21st century.

Population growth, industrialisation and climate change are turning water into an ever more precious resource. Already 1.2 billion people – that’s one sixth of the world population – have no access to clean drinking water.

2.6 billion people do not have access to sanitation, with a public system for water supply and sewerage. Two-thirds of all disease in developing countries is caused by unclean water. This is further complicated by the fact that around the world rainwater volumes are changing as a result of climate change: Africa, for example, will suffer increasing drought over the coming decades, according to Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, climate-impact researcher and a chairman in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As a result, agricultural production in Africa will suffer a dramatic downturn, and in the next 50 years the continent will become a net importer of food – which will have a significant political, social and economic impact.

Water footprint: How much water do we really use?

In Western European latitudes such scenarios are hard to imagine, as we seem to have an almost endless supply of clean water. Set against this the figure for average consumption of around 130 litres of water per person per day seems almost moderate. The problem is that the real figure for per-capita water consumption is much higher, in fact thirty times higher – at around 4,000 litres per head, day in, day out. A website run by the non-profit organisation Water Footprint Network publishes statistics on total direct and indirect water consumption, to give a true picture in the form of a Water Footprint . It lists in detail how much water is required to produce the products we take for granted in our daily lives.

Just one example: To produce a single kilogram of beef – from rearing the animal to processing the meat – around 15,500 litres of drinking water are required. In many regions around the world, with a rapidly growing world population, rising prosperity and, linked to this, an increase in meat consumption, the need for a radical re-think of our consumption patterns is obvious. An added complication is that many products which have a large water footprint are produced in countries which have a latent water shortage. Industrial products also have a water footprint. As a global average 80 litres of water are consumed for each dollar in value of the final product. So, to produce a car worth 20,000 dollars, an average of 160,000 litres of water is consumed. This figure differs widely according to the region in question – in the US, for example, 100 litres of water are consumed for every dollar in value, while in Germany and the Netherlands, the figure is only 50 litres per dollar. In China and India, it is down at 20 to 25 litres.

Technology to avert a water crisis

New ideas and solutions to tackle the urgent challenges facing global water management will be on show at IFAT ENTSORGA, the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Water, Sewage, Waste and Raw Materials Management, which takes place in Munich from 13 to 17 September 2010. More than 2,620 companies from over 44 countries worldwide will be presenting ways of processing sea water using new types of filter technologies, and ways to renovate wells down to a depth of 1,200 metres, for example.

There is tremendous potential for saving drinking water by simply reducing the enormous losses in the water-delivery systems themselves: In London alone, over 900 million litres of drinking water simply drain away into the ground, unused – because of the many leaks in the ailing system. In Germany water losses amount to 500 billion litres per year, a quantity that could supply the whole of Berlin with drinking water for seven years. Sustainable water management has long been a main concern for the environmental technology industry, too, – and German machinery and plant producers lead the field in this growth market. Annual investment in water projects comes to 80 billion dollars worldwide, according to the United Nations. In the medium term it will be necessary to double this figure, in order to supply water-poor regions of the world adequately with drinking water and to optimise waste-water treatment and purification systems in the industrialised countries.

The amount of water needed to produce the following foods:

1 apple - 70 litres

1 cup of tea - 30 litres

1 glass of beer - 75 litres

1 glass of wine - 120 litres

1 cup of coffee - 140 litres

1 slice of white bread - 40 litres

1 kilogram of maize - 900 litres

1 kilogram of wheat - 1,300 litres

1 kilogram of millet - 5,000 litres

1 kilogram of cheese - 5,000 litres

1 hamburger - 2,400 litres

1 kilogram of chicken - 3,900 litres

1 kilogram of pork - 4,800 litres

1 kilogram of beef - 15,500 litres

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