AsiaLIFE

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Luke Hunt investigates the growing plight of fresh water scarcity in Southeast Asia.

Given the floods that have wreaked havoc across Southeast Asia over the past few years, most people could be forgiven for thinking there is plenty of H2O to go around in this region.

The problem is not the quantity, it’s the quality. Authorities warn of dire shortages of fresh water in the not too distant future, posing a set of social problems on a scale that could surpass the ramifications of climate change.

“Climate change has certainly received a lot of attention, as it should—after all, it will have huge consequences for our future,” said Arjun Thapan, an advisor on infrastructure to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“Water, on the other hand, is not just a climate change adaptation question. It is one which has the potential to retard economic growth, promote inequity, and threaten food and energy security.”

Water Woes

A recent report by the ADB paints a potentially devastating picture. It states that more than 80 percent of all untreated wastewater is leaching into fresh water in East Asia. According to Thapan, climate change, industrialisation, dietary shifts and a push towards biofuels could deepen the water crisis further.

On current trends, the ADB estimates an overall 40 percent gap between water demand and supply in Asia by 2030. India would have a water deficit of 50 percent and China—where water issues have been well documented—would have a shortage of 25 percent.

Alongside Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal and Uzbekistan, Cambodia is one of the smaller Asian countries currently feeling the heaviest impact of the water shortages on food and energy production, as well as ecological damage, the ADB report finds.

In 2008, a lack of water resulted in low rice stocks, contributing to a regional food scare. Prices then spiralled and rice-growing countries like Cambodia, as well as Thailand and Vietnam, imposed export restrictions to secure their domestic food supplies.

The ADB report also notes that irrigation for agriculture uses up 80 percent of the region’s fresh water, however, attempts to improve irrigation efficiencies since 1990 have been very minimal.

“The kinds of water demand and supply gaps projected for Asia—home to 6/10ths of the world—in 2030 require planners, policy makers, and water managers to find solutions that drive water use efficiency regimes to close the gaps as soon as possible,” Thapan says.

But according to the ADB report, the biggest single factor contributing to the degradation of Asian water quality is weak law enforcement, a perennial sore point in Asia where economic growth is persistently plagued by allegations of chronic corruption.

With the exception of Singapore, Southeast Asian countries fared poorly in the latest survey on corruption by Transparency International. Malaysia ranked 56th in the world, Thailand came in 78th, Indonesia was 110th, Vietnam held 116th spot, the Philippines 134th and Cambodia was nearer the bottom at 154th.

Success in Cambodia

Such results hardly inspire confidence. However, there are exceptions in Cambodia where water supplies in the capital stand in stark contrast to the rest of the country by being as clean and accessible as in Singapore.

About 17 years ago, Prime Minister Hun Sen decided every resident of Phnom Penh must have access to cheap, clean water. Turning colonial-era waterworks into modern-day utilities seemed an impossible task, especially when graft and nepotism were as much stumbling blocks as the rust in the pipes.

A dramatic change in corporate culture at the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) was ordered and a monetary value was put on water. Jobs for life, friends and relatives were ruled out, staff numbers were slashed to one-fifth and those who remained were paid salaries comparable with the private sector.

Those who failed to measure up were sacked.

“What we have come back from in 1993 was very bad,” says PPWSA Director Ek Sonn Chan, who has a well-earned reputation for being untainted by graft.

His efforts have culminated in a number of international awards. The most recent was in June, when the PPWSA won the Stockholm Industry Water Award for 2010.

The Water Footprint

Attempts to ring public alarm bells over looming water shortages have scientists talking in terms of the “water footprint,” along similar lines to the better known carbon footprint which measures greenhouse gas emissions on an individual or business level.

According to the US-based National Geographic Society, the latest environmental buzzword helps define water usage. Less than five percent of used water runs through toilets, taps and garden hoses; the remaining 95 percent is hidden in food and energy production, products and services.

“The water footprint in our towns and cities, in our irrigation systems, our energy production systems and in industry in general, is extravagant,’’ Thapan says. “It needs to shrink and Asia needs to become acutely conscious of the scarcity value of its accessible freshwater.’’

Wastewater treatment, he adds, is an important area for the future in order to avoid the despoliation of Asia’s freshwater resources and the disastrous consequences for ecological balance and environmental sustainability.

“If this can become a business, and certainly there are business opportunities especially where water is becoming scarce, then private investments can easily be attracted with benefits to all,” explains Thapan.

He argues that water should get the kind of top billing that climate change has had. “Perhaps it’s time for someone to do an Inconvenient Truth with water,” he says.