Water Scarcity in Bangladesh

Writing by Dilduba Yeasmin: Water is one of the most precious resources on the planet. More than 1 billion people do not have access to a source of clean drinking water, and around 3 billion experience water scarcity at least one month per year.

Water scarcity:

Water scarcity, both natural and of human origin, is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands within a region. Water is unequally distributed over time and space. Much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainable managed. There is no global water scarcity as such, but a number of places and regions are chronically short of water because its use at the global level has increased more than twice as fast as the population over the last century. Pressure on water resources is increasing in several parts of the world, especially in China, India, Pakistan, in the Middle East and many countries and regions of Africa.

Physical & economic scarcity:

Water scarcity can result from two mechanisms:

·      physical (absolute) water scarcity

·      economic water scarcity

Physical water scarcity results from inadequate natural water resources to supply a region's demand, and economic water scarcity results from poor management of the sufficient available water resources. According to the United Nations Development Program, the latter is found more often to be the cause of countries or regions experiencing water scarcity, as most countries or regions have enough water to meet household, industrial, agricultural, and environmental needs, but lack the means to provide it in an accessible manner. Around one fifth of the world's population currently live in regions affected by Physical water scarcity , where there is inadequate water resources to meet a country's or regional demand, including the water needed to fulfill the demand of ecosystems to function effectively. Arid regions frequently suffer from physical water scarcity. It also occurs where water seems abundant but where resources are over-committed, such as when there is over development of hydraulic infrastructure for irrigation. Symptoms of physical water scarcity include environmental degradation and declining groundwater as well as other forms of exploitation or overuse.

Economic water scarcity is caused by a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology to draw water from rivers, aquifers or other water sources, or insufficient human capacity to satisfy the demand for water. One quarter of the world's population is affected by economic water scarcity. Economic water scarcity includes a lack of infrastructure, causing the people without reliable access to water to have to travel long distances to fetch water, that is often contaminated from rivers for domestic and agricultural uses. Large parts of Africa suffer from economic water scarcity; developing water infrastructure in those areas could therefore help to reduce poverty. Critical conditions often arise for economically poor and politically weak communities living in already dry environment. Consumption increases with GDP per capita in most developed countries the average amount is around 200–300 litres daily. In underdeveloped countries (e.g. African countries such as Mozambique), average daily water consumption per capita was below 10 L. This is against the backdrop of international organisations, which recommend a minimum of 20 L of water (not including the water needed for washing clothes), available at most 1 km from the household. Increased water consumption is correlated with increasing income, as measured by GDP per capita. In countries suffering from water shortages water is the subject of speculation.

Water Crisis in Bangladesh:

More than fifty transboundary rivers feed into Bangladesh, effectively creating the world’s second largest riverine drainage basin, the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basin. Since time immemorial, this river system has supported and maintained the agrarian societies of the basin. These societies are now faced with increasing riverine environmental stress, while demands for water continue to rise due to industrialization as well as population growth. Driven mainly by the South Asian monsoon and the complex dynamics of the Himalayan glaciers, the region’s water resources and hydrology present great challenges for water managers. While there is still limited coope-ration on transboundary river water management among the countries of this region, many stakeholders are now calling for closer cooperation.

This report presents the results of a collaborative and multidisciplinary effort by a team of researchers from Norway and South Asia, approaching the issue of water scarcity in Bangladesh with a view not only to conduct research on river water availability, but also to help promote awareness and knowledge-sharing on river water management in the region. In addition to reviewing bilateral agreements on water cooperation in South Asia, the report investigates water scarcity in Bangladesh and explores institutional mechanisms and strategies for basinwide and multilateral cooperation on the management of transboundary river water.

Water scarcity Causes:

·      Water Pollution

·      Climate Change

·      Growing freshwater demand

Water scarcity Effects:

Water shortages have a great impact on human health, socio-economic development, and the environment:

1. Hunger, poverty and education

Apart from dehydration due to the obvious lack of drinking water, hunger is one the most serious effect of water scarcity.  Water shortages have a direct impact on crops and livestock, which can lead to food shortages and eventually starvation. As well, because of water shortages some people cannot shower, wash their clothes or clean their homes properly.

In the poorest countries, some children can’t go to school, because they are either too sick or they have to walk for a long time to reach a water source. Even when they can attend, many children cannot learn because of their fatigue, heavy responsibilities and worries for their families.

2. Sanitation issues and diseases

Water scarcity generates sanitation problems by forcing people to drink unsafe water. In fact, when water is scarce people tend to store it at home, which increases the risk of domestic water contamination and creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which transmit dengue and malaria.

Lack of water cause other diseases such as trachoma (an eye infection that can cause blindness), plague and typhus.

3. Conflicts

Having access to water has become a powerful global economic issue that could become one of the main causes of international tension. Local conflicts - sometimes resulting in warfare - are triggered over scarce water resources. With the burgeoning global population and growing needs, these tensions could multiply in the future.

4. Biodiversity loss

Water scarcity has different negative impacts on rivers, lakes, and other freshwater resources. It harms the environment in several ways including increased salinity, nutrient pollution, and the loss of floodplains and wetlands. Ecosystems and biodiversity (e.g. freshwater fish) are threatened by the scarcity of water resources.

Water scarcity prevention:

There are ways to save water and prevent water scarcity:

1. Sustainable water management

Improving water infrastructure must be a priority, as water conservation and efficiency are key components of sustainable water management. Solar desalination and smart irrigation systems are great examples of clean technology for water efficiency and control. That obviously applies even more to the agriculture and farming sector - the largest consumer of water.

2. Reclaimed water

Rainwater harvesting and recycled wastewater also allow to reduce scarcity and ease pressures on groundwater and other natural water bodies. Groundwater recharge, that allows water moving from surface water to groundwater, is a well-known process to prevent water scarcity.

3. Pollution control & better sewage treatment

Without proper sanitation, the water becomes full of diseases and unsafe to drink. That is why addressing pollution, measuring and monitoring water quality is essential. Besides, improving the sewage systems in specific areas is another way to prevent water scarcity from becoming any worse.

4. Awareness & Education

Education is critical to solve the water crisis. In fact, in order to cope with future water scarcity, it is necessary to radically reform all forms of consumption, from individual use to the supply chains of large companies.

Water footprint:

When how much water we use on a regular day, we will start counting the water we use for drinking, cleaning, bathing, or cooking, etc. that is known as water footprint.

Water footprint

Global water Crisis:

The essence of global water scarcity is the geographic and temporal mismatch between freshwater demand and availability. The increasing world population , improving living standards , changing consumption patterns, and expansion of irrigated agriculture are the main driving forces for the rising global demand for water.  Climate change , such as altered weather-patterns (including droughts or floods ), deforestation, increase pollution , green house gases, and wasteful use of water can cause insufficient supply. At the global level and on an annual basis, enough freshwater is available to meet such demand, but spatial and temporal variations of water demand and availability are large, leading to (physical) water scarcity in several parts of the world during specific times of the year.  All causes of water scarcity are related to human interference with the water cycle . Scarcity varies over time as a result of natural hydrological variability, but varies even more so as a function of prevailing economic policy, planning and management approaches. Scarcity can be expected to intensify with most forms of economic development , but, if correctly identified, many of its causes can be predicted, avoided or mitigated.

Some countries have already proven that decoupling water use from economic growth is possible. For example, in Australia, water consumption declined by 40% between 2001 and 2009 while the economy grew by more than 30%.  The International Resource Panel of the UN states that governments have tended to invest heavily in largely inefficient solutions: mega-projects like dams , canals , aqueducts , pipelines and water reservoirs, which are generally neither environmentally sustainable nor economically viable. The most cost-effective way of decoupling water use from economic growth, according to the scientific panel, is for governments to create holistic water management plans that take into account the entire water cycle: from source to distribution, economic use treatment , recycling , reuse and return to the environment.

Global water Cricis

The total amount of easily accessible freshwater on Earth, in the form of surface water ( rivers and lakes ) or groundwater (in aquifers , for example), is 14.000 cubic kilometres (nearly 3359 cubic miles). Of this total amount, 'just' 5.000 cubic kilometres are being used and reused by humanity. Hence, in theory, there is more than enough freshwater available to meet the demands of the current world population of more than 7 billion people, and even support population growth to 9 billion or more. Due to the unequal geographical distribution and especially the unequal consumption of water, however, it is a scarce resource in some parts of the world and for some parts of the population. Scarcity as a result of consumption is caused primarily by the extensive use of water in agriculture/livestock breeding and industry . People in developed countries generally use about 10 times more water daily than those ideveloping countries.  A large part of this is indirect use in water-intensive agricultural and industrial production processes consumer goods , such as fruit, oil seed crops and cotton. Because many of these production chains have been globalised, a lot of water in developing countries is being used and polluted in order to produce goods destined for consumption in developed countries.

References:

1. "Water scarcity Threats" WWF, 2013. Retrieved  16 October 2019.

2. How do we prevent today's water crisis becoming tomorrows catastrophe?. World Economic Forum. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2019.

3. A.E. Ercin, A.Y. Hoekstra, Warer Footprint Scenarios for 2050. A Global analysis.  Environment International 64, 71-82 (2014).

Dilruba Yeasmin

Department of Environmental Science & Disaster Management 

Noakhali Science & Technology University 

Friday, 18 October, 2019