Asia: Asian water security risk

Additional than three-quarters of Asia-Pacific nations are experiencing a critical lack of water security, with a lot of facing a water crisis, an Asian Development Bank study says. It recommends ways to take action. "While the Asia-Pacific region has become an economic powerhouse, it is alarming that no developing country in the region can be considered 'water- fasten.' Nations must urgently improve water governance through inspired leadership and creative policymaking," an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official has warned. 

What is new about this new Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO)?

Ian Makin: It's the prime time anybody has set out to measure water security to make comparisons between 49 nations in Asia and the Pacific region. What we did was set up a system whereby nations can track how their water security status changes over time. No one has done this formerly. We presently have a baseline, a methodology for looking at amount dimensions of water security from the household level to water-related disasters. This is the result of a four-year project in which 10 organizations in Asia and the Pacific collaborated.

According to the statement, household water security is essential, as it is the foundation for amount efforts to eradicate poverty. It is as well an significant issue within the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG). According to MDG reports, in the last 20 years additional than 1.7 billion people in the Asia-Pacific region have gained access to safe water, confirming in broad terms that Asia has completed the MDG water supply target.

Does the ADB study support this view?

Wouter Lincklaen Arriens: There is a huge difference between what the MDGs say is access to improved or safe drinking water and what we consider fasten household access, which means a tap in the home. So for example, if you see the statistics for South Asia in the MDG statement say that there is 91 % coverage. But a lot of women and children spend a lot of time carrying water from remote sources that are very often not what we would consider potable. But if you look at the piped water supply there is only 23 % coverage. That is an incredible difference. Throughout Asia and the Pacific, the number of people with a tap in the home lags significantly behind the in general MDG figures for improved water supply.

The ADB water study is considered a leading measurement framework for a sustainable water development goal for the post-2015 era, next the deadline for reaching the MDGs has expired.

As significant as a household water supply is, it is only one aspect of water security. What are the others?

Wouter Lincklaen Arriens: We look at water in five key dimensions, so besides household water security there are economic water security, urban water security, environmental water security and resilience to water-related disasters. And each of these five dimensions is ranked at one to five on the National Water Security Index (NWSI), with one being very insecure - what we call "hazardous" - and five serving as a model. And again we have a composite index of what we call national water security.

Ian Makin: Let's look at Vietnam, for example: on the national level it is at two on the index. The government is starting to revise its approaches and increase its investment , but Vietnam is still a "hazardous" national. Household water security is actually completely good; they are putting a lot of effort into that. Economically, water security is very poor, level one; the major reason being that 80-90 % of their water is actually generated outside the country, so they are very much exposed to what upstream nations do. Within the urban areas, Vietnam's water management is completely poor - again level one - that's half because wastewater treatment is very low and they as well suffer a lot from flood damage. And at the same time as we look at environmental water security they are at level two. They have had a number of pollution incidents; there are completely a lot of rivers that are not in good shape. And if we look at their resilience to water-related hazards, again they are at level two because they have a very long coastline, exposed to a lot of typhoons and other water-related hazards, and they suffer from droughts.

What should Asian governments to do in order to improve their water security?

Ian Makin: In the statement we have made 12 recommendations to the leading planning and finance ministries, for example, to make the best use of by presently developed water resources by investing in "reduce, reuse, recycle" systems; to transform the management of groundwater and irrigation services; and to mobilize rural communities for equitable access to water.
It is not that each government has to do amount of these, but they are areas where we feel the return on investment is certainly worthwhile. Our objective is to show the impact of water insecurity on the economy and the security of their country and to see where they can start to direct their resources to bring about water security. That's because water security is about personal and economic security - and from presently on about national security.

What would be the consequences if governments failed to provide additional water security?

Wouter Lincklaen Arriens: Economic increase would slow down; if the economy is additional disaster-prone, it will suffer damage. But as well public health: There are a growing number of studies that show that in some areas in Asia, cancer is on the rise because of persistent severe water pollution. So it has a huge impact on the economy, on health, on livelihoods - and on the costs of providing clean water. The additional polluted water bodies are, the additional expensive the cost of treatment to provide drinking water to the growing people inclunding to industry.

Ian Makin: The country that has come to terms with this most rapidly is the People's Republic of China. They recognize that over the completed ten years, water security has become a major threat to their economic increase and of the sustainability of the economic advances that they have made in recent years. They are making a very large commitment to resources over the next 10 years, specifically to address water resource management and water use - and particularly pollution. They are putting a huge amount of effort into reversing the damage that has been done to a lot of of the rivers in the country.

Wouter Lincklaen Arriens is ADB's Lead Water Resources Specialist and the expert leading the publication of the statement. Ian Makin is ADB's Principal Water Resources Specialist.