WC133 NovDec 2023 - Magazine - Page 36
H2OPINION
Water For All
Moving Toward a Sustainable Water Future
BY ART UMBLE
ILL THERE BE ENOUGH accessible water available
to supply our world in the coming decades? A sustainable global water future may be simpler than we think:
We must use less.
Though many people agree this is fundamental,
it’s not easy to achieve. Water stress isn’t solely about availability.
It’s about consumption that’s outstripping our supply. It’s about
urbanization and socioeconomic factors that are influencing the
imbalance between supply and demand. It’s about lack of adequate infrastructure for equitable water access and changes in our
climate.
The burgeoning global urban population, socioeconomic
complexities associated with transboundary water regimes, and the
changing climate deeply influence water availability. Let’s explore
each of these major stressors and their influence on the availability of water. Then, I’d like to look past conventional engineered
solutions—i.e., augmenting existing water supplies—and toward a
solution found in implementing policies that quench our insatiable thirst for more water and change the paradigms of how we
build liveable communities and cities.
W
Art Umble
Art Umble is the senior vice president
and director of the Stantec Institute for
Applied Science, Technology & Policy.
36
A growing global population
Urbanization has created a challenge for water availability. As cities
grow globally, there are hundreds of cities that don’t have enough
water infrastructure—let alone water—to support that growth.
According to data from the United Nations’ Population
Division, we could see a 50-80 per cent increase in urban water demand by 2050, which could lead to over two billion city
dwellers facing water scarcity. In New Delhi, India, the population
is expected to grow to 36 million by 2030. Currently, the water
demand in India’s capital—1,100 million gallons per day—is already outstripping supply (800 million gallons per day). Similarly,
Bengaluru (Bangalore), in southern India, has burgeoned in size
with new property developments as the city becomes known as a
tech hub. But Bangalore’s water and sewage system infrastructure
can’t keep up with the growth. What will be their water solution?
Though the changing climate is a factor affecting the amount of
water available, it accounts for less than five per cent of the water
stress experienced by many cities. The stress is a direct result of
consumptive demand and lack of adequate water infrastructure.
WATER C AN ADA • NOV EMBER/ DECEMBER 2023
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
