WATER: NEW REALITIES AND CHALLENGES
Among many free gifts from the Creator to man like Air, Sun, and Water etc., water not minding that it`s indispensable, and that the whole universe, according to sources, is made of 70 percent of water. It is today becoming increasingly scarce nore than many other artficial economic goods.
Judging by the imperative usage of water, the supply of affordable drinking water, at least, supposed not to be triffle with.
For water, according to this writer, is so useful that one hardly miss using it even a day. for instance, from bathroom to kitchen, laundry, car-wash etc. From commercial agriculture to the factory, hydropower generation, sanitation, among many others; water is at the center of it all. It is appropriate to say that the why we live and do things is governed by water. Water is life. Sixty percent by weight of the human body consists of water. That is why Aristotle once said that water is the primary cause of all things. From time immomorial, man has sought and lived around water more than any othr element.
The writer once again revealed that it is worrisome that despite the subsisting role water has played in human civilisation and the fact that the world has placed water high on the global aganda of development, the progress being made to make possible water available remains slow in concrete terms.
He however, outlined the following as the reasons for this inability to provide portable drinking water:
i. Uneven distribution of water.
ii. Mismanagment, corruption and lopsided governance system interplay to make
water scarce. The result is that one-fifth of the world`s population still lack access
to portable water, 40 percent lack access to the basic sanitation. He went on to
say that according to the United Nations world water report Development 2.
released recently in Mexico city, "Governance system determine who gets what
water, when and how and decide who has the right to water and related services".
iii. Lack of appropriate institution, bureaucratic bottlenecks and lack of human
capacity. This however, created poor water quality which is a key cause of poor
livelihood and health
vi. Poor land use practices are a critical factor. The hydrological cycle, upon which
life depends needs a healthy environment to function. The devastating
droughts in East Africa and Sahel region, for instance, are partly due to over
grazing and deforestation.
Two out of five people now live in areas vulnerable to floods and rising sea
levels, several nations are at risk including Bangladesh, India, China, Pakistan
Philippines, the United States, and Nigeria
The effect of lack of portable drinking water to various sub-regional groupings of the world were outlined and they include: the drought stricken Kenyans in Garrisa who resorted in collecting mud water from deep down dry riverbeds as clean water substitute. The entire Sahel region of Africa is perpectually caged in this cycle of abject poverty.
Concluding the challenges facing us now, having recognised the vital role water plays in our daily lives, there is need to move from mere rhetoric to concrete actions. One way to face the future is to adopt integratedwater resouces management andeffeiciency planning
The big multinational water companies should be encouraged to stop withdrawing
from, or downsizing their operations though the financial risk is enomous. By that portable
water can be affordable to the reach of average persons.
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