World Water Day 2024: global challenges and solutions

Our planet is rich in water: about 70 percent of it is covered by it. This equates to about 1.4 billion cubic kilometres of water, or 1.4 trillion litres. In figures: 1,400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. But only a tiny fraction of this is safe to drink: just under 2.5 per cent of the world's water is drinkable fresh water. In fact, this small proportion of the total would still be enough for everyone – if it were evenly distributed. It is estimated that the available potable water could even supply a global population of around 20 billion people, so in theory there is no global water shortage.

And yet, according to Unicef, around two billion people around the world do not have regular access to clean water. This is a basic human right, according to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6). The consequences of this shortage are devastating: famine and internal migration are just two of many. Climate change exacerbates existing inequalities. Extreme weather events such as droughts and floods are becoming more frequent, affecting the availability of clean water in many regions. Rising temperatures are also leading to increased evaporation and faster melting of glaciers, resulting in a long-term decline in available freshwater supplies.

Against the backdrop of rapid population growth, the urgency of ensuring an equitable distribution of potable water becomes even more apparent. With around 8 billion people on the planet today and a projected world population of 10 billion by 2080, the available water will have to be shared among even more people, exacerbating the challenges that already exist.
In the face of these challenges, it is clear that a new way of thinking and collective action is needed to equitably distribute and protect the precious resource of clean water.

In addition to drip irrigation, other innovative methods and technologies are already being used in agriculture to minimise water use. These include water recycling systems, rainwater harvesting and storage, and the use of soil-conserving farming practices such as mulching and agroforestry. Recent research also shows promising developments in precision farming and the use of drones to monitor and optimise irrigation systems.

Through the targeted promotion and implementation of innovative irrigation technologies, agriculture can make an important contribution to sustainable water management. Particularly in light of projected population growth, it will be increasingly important for the agricultural sector to adopt resource-efficient practices wherever possible to meet the growing demand for water while ensuring global food security.

Industry's increased efforts to reduce water consumption not only make environmental sense, they also make economic sense. By reducing operating costs and minimising environmental impact, companies can benefit from more sustainable practices in the long term. One challenge in implementing these measures, however, is international inflation and costs – especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Investing in water saving or recycling technologies can often be costly upfront.

In the face of these challenges, cooperation between politics and business can help to guide, promote and support changes in the way we use water as a resource. Through targeted measures and incentives, policymakers can help companies reduce their water footprint and contribute to securing the global water supplies.

The urgency of the clean water issue is already being discussed at the highest political level, particularly in the context of the UN's SDGs. SDG 6 is explicitly dedicated to ensuring the sustainable availability of water and sanitation for all. In addition, many countries have developed their own strategies to address this challenge in the face of declining regional availability of potable water globally.

But despite these efforts, national strategies often reach their limits. Water is a resource that knows no national boundaries. International cooperation is therefore needed to share the available water. This cooperation is essential to ensure the protection of clean water as the basis of life, both in terms of the quantities that are (or can be) used and in terms of the introduction of pollutants into groundwater.

The European Commission provided an example of the urgency when it stated in its "Communication on addressing climate risks in Europe" in early March that the costs of inadequate or delayed implementation of integrated water management will be unaffordable. Yet the Commission itself has indefinitely postponed the presentation of its Water Resilience Initiative until February 2024. Announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in September 2023, the EU initiative aims to tackle the increasingly frequent droughts and floods that are having a devastating impact across Europe and are linked to climate change.

Another concern is the lack of attention given to water policy in some political programmes. In particular, in view of the upcoming European Parliament elections, it is noteworthy that some election manifestos do not address the issue of water. Water management should play an important role in the upcoming European elections in order to address the challenges of the water crisis.

At the same time, it is important to recognise that some southern European countries have already made progress in irrigation with treated water. To take a comprehensive view of potable water as a resource, it is advisable that the remaining European countries develop measures or follow existing solutions. In implementing the EU regulation on water reuse, Member States could consider going beyond the minimum requirements. The global water crisis demands decisive political action. If governments around the world come together and take concrete, international action to secure water supplies for all, water as a resource can be protected in a sustainable way.