COVID-19 heightens water problems around the world

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COVID-19 heightens water problems around the world

COVID-19 will unquestionably delay achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the latest global attempt to improve the quality of life of billions of people around the world by 2030.

Increasing access to clean water and sanitation are among the 17 SDGs. During normal times, and even more during the present pandemic, access to clean water and proper sanitation is essential.

But we must now rethink how we achieve the goals laid out in the SDGS. First, we should stop looking at access to safe water as the problem of developing countries alone – it is a global problem that worsens under extreme conditions like the current pandemic.

HOW COVID-19 HEIGHTENS WATER PROBLEMS

During the current pandemic, a lack of clean water for drinking and proper hygienic practices has become a major concern for cities in the developing world, especially in slums, peri-urban areas and refugee camps.

Countries in Africa and South Asia, with some 85% of the world’s people live, face particularly daunting challenges to access clean, drinkable water.

But the problem is not confined to these areas. Developed countries are increasingly facing similar concerns. After catastrophic experiences with water utilities in Flint in 2014 in the US, and in 2000 in Walkerton, Canada, which seriously affected the health of a large number of people, millions in these two countries are now using point of treatment systems in their homes to further purify city water. They are also buying bottled water because they perceive it to be cleaner and safer. In overwhelming percentage of cases of people in developed countries, from Japan and Singapore to western Europe and the US, are doing this out of choice and not because they have to.

But the financial impact of lockdown and growing unemployment means that spending extra on safe water has become a problem for many households – and millions are struggling to pay their utilities bills, including for water.

In the US, some 57 million people in several states have been allowed to continue receiving water from their utilities even if they cannot currently pay for it. But there are still many poor and disadvantaged people who did not have access to water services before the pandemic, and still do not have them.

In the European Union (EU), most member states need to increase their annual water supply and sanitation expenditure by more than 25% to comply with EU Drinking Water and Urban Wastewater Treatment Directives. This will also contribute towards reaching the SDGs. But in these uncertain times, the EU will have to rethink how best to make use of scarce financial resources to achieve their goals.

The pandemic has further worsened the living conditions and health of millions of people in both developed and developing countries, and it is unclear when this situation might improve. Even in the world’s richest country, USA, at least two million people still do not have access to piped water.

THE NEED FOR LEADERSHIP

From the late 1970s, the United Nations have advocated for improved source of water. But this term does not mean clean and safe water, even though UN organisations use these terms interchangeably.

COVID-19 has focused global attention to clean water for frequent handwashing, drinking and personal hygiene. Political leaders will now have to give increasing attention not only to access to water but also to its quality. It will be an even more daunting task, in both developed and developing countries, to regain the trust of their people that water they are receiving is safe to drink and for personal hygiene because of extensive past mismanagement in most countries of the world.

The world needs leadership, long-term sustainable policies, robust legal and regulatory systems, strong institutions, and services that are reliable and provided irrespective of the circumstances. For example, Singapore ensured all these conditions were fulfilled from 1965 onwards. As a result, its water management is now one of the best in the world.

The absence of enlightened political leadership in nearly all countries of the world, both developed and developing, will exacerbate the problem in the coming decades because of increasing uncertainties due to both expected events like climate change and unexpected ones like COVID-19.

Water affects all aspects of life, economic activity and ecosystems. As the British-American poet, W.H. Auden wrote: “Thousands have lived without love but none without water.”

Cecilia Tortajada is Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National, University of Singapore. Asit K. Biswas is Visiting professor, University of Glasgow.

This article was published by THE CONVERSATION, 8 June, 2020.

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4 Comments

  2. I agree that it takes enlightened political leadership in guiding the water security. Providing clean and safe water is not just about the water production but about how we look at the global urbanization. Fresh water as Earth's limited resource, how are we balancing that with the environment we live in? From rivers to ocean and aquifers to estuaries, ecological balance and diversity is threatened by mismanaged and over use of fresh water. We supply endless amount of fresh water to maintain artificially created landscape over protecting our natural landscape that help sustain us. Why is that? 

    It is also about equity in public infrastructure. As the world is converging on police brutality and social equity issues surrounding the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, we must remember about how we see the water security issue as the basic right for all. as Cecilia mentioned, this is not only about the developing countries. Look at what happened in Flint, Michigan.

    Water is a very focused point of wider conversation about how we live and how we may improve our political and social infrastructure. Yes, we need enlightened political leaders. But, we have to recognize the urgent need and demand the changes necessary from the ground up. 

  3. Thank you, Cecilia, for these timely and pertinent observations.  Covid may indeed delay achievement of the SDGs, especially SDG 6, but, as you rightly observe, water concerns are not limited to developing countries.  We can only hope that enlightened, visionary leaders will arise to show us how to achieve water security and other forms of security as well.

  4. It is very timely article, thank you. Collecting rain water is a feasible option for communities not served by pipe water both in developed and developing world and for rural and urban households. . In Sri Lanka a survey done during Covid 19 lock down showed that people with RWH system was better off in terms of water security since they had water at their door step, where as their neighbours had to wait for curfew to be lifted to fetch water. Please refer to our web site www.lankarainwater.org