by Maxwell Chivasa
As southern African countries ponder ways to share the region’s water, the United Nations is urging member states to find suitable measures and technologies to safeguard and properly utilise limited water resources for future generations.
With the principles of the slogan “Think Globally, Act Locally”, the UN is warning that the global water resources are not enough and people should act nationally or regionally to ensure that water is shared equally.
“One World, One Water, One Way•, says another recent slogan urging a united, and global approach to solving water and environmental problems. Many regional agreements, worldwide, are being signed to ensure that quality of water is maintained.
SADC countries have long realised the need for such an agreement to equally share the region’s water. In August 1995, they signed a Shared Water Course Systems Protocol that will guide any water extraction activities across the borders.
Eight southern African countries share the region’s longest river, the Zambezi and several other countries share watercourse systems which form their borders.
In a message to mark this year’s World Day for Water on March 22, being observed under the theme “Water Resources Assessment” and with the slogan “The world’s water, is there enough?”, the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation says water is now an issue of global significance.
The message by WMO Secretary General, Professor Godwin Obasi, adds that water is important or national economies and the well-being of peoples and environment of the world and therefore should be shared equally.
For decades, water has always been considered as a plentiful, a renewable and an infinite resource, yet of all the water on earth 97.5 percent is salt- primarily in the oceans and only 2.5 percent is fresh.
The state of water availability causes concern as people look at the local or national water supplies. The whole world is competing for the 2.5 percent which is not even closer enough for people to use because most of it is stored in the icecaps of Antarctica and Arctic and as groundwater.
According to a statement from the United Nations office, out of the remaining 2.5 percent, only 0.26 percent is in storage and 0.007 percent of the water on earth is renewable and actually available for use on a sustainable basis.
The world’s water becomes more critical u each country examines its available water resources, compared to the growing needs and pressures. It is for this reason that United Nations is urging member states to respond to this year`s theme as nations and relate it to the global water crisis.
Each country has been urged to consider the theme: “The Nation’s Water– Is There Enough?”
At a SADC regional level in what could be viewed as a response to a regional theme “The Region’s
Water; Is There Enough?” the SADC’s Shared Watercourse Systems Protocol (1995) allows for equal utilisation of shared watercourse systems.
Under the protocol member states within a shared watercourse system, should exchange information and data regarding the hydrological, hydrogeological, water quality, meteorological and ecological condition of such watercourse system. This will ensure peace and stability is maintained in the region.
Water experts are expecting that Namibia and Botswana should use the same protocol and avoid conflict over the resource.
The UN statement says country responses should also be “considering suitable measures and technologies to safeguard and properly utilise this limited resource for future generations of humankind.”
The International Food Research Policy Institute predicts that water will cause conflicts in the next century, reinforcing water scarcity fears. The institute is urging nations to learn for the experience of the Middle East which have managed to cope with minimum amounts of water.
Different users of water, between and within countries will be left with increased competition for access to water, leading to conflicts that may ignite wars. Realising water needs of other countries is an important element in preventing wars and conflicts over the resource which impede development.
According to a recently released book, Water in Southern Africa published by SADC, IUCN and
SARDC, the distribution and availability of the water resources in SADC is uneven among the region’s 16 main river basins. There seems to be little choice other than sharing the resource to meet the water needs of others or neighbours.
The SADC region’s water experts estimate the renewable freshwater resources at about 650 billion cubic metres {cu m) in rivers, lakes and groundwater bodies and river basin systems. A substantial amount of water is not easily accessible even during droughts.
There is plenty of water in the international system but it will mean a great deal of water transfers costing nearly US$1-2 billion.
With escalating costs, transferring water from sources to human settlements or for agricultural use, water conservation becomes cost effective, just as good as saving fuel to last a longer journey. (SARDC)
