Water for Development

Dear Sir or Madam,Water for Development is the theme for World Water Day 2002; the International Atomic Energy Agency is the coordinating UN agency this year, see www.worldwaterday2002.iaea.org . The currently poor and deteriorating state of water resources in many parts of the world demand integrated water resources planning and management. The IAEA highlights the following issues.

The impact of steady population growth on water availability is an increasing challenge. In fact, it has been observed that while the 20th Century was about oil, the 21st Century will be about water.

Already today, with a world population of 6.1 billion, lack of water is a pressing problem in developing countries. As the population continues to grow - expected to exceed 9 billion in the next 50 years - the demand for water may become acute. Signs are already evident. In some developed countries, water returned to the environment is often in a polluted state thus threatening its source. In some urban centres, demand for water not only threatens to exceed the supply, but the quality of the water itself is also a concern. While improved technology in agriculture has increased food production, demand for water has correspondingly increased. Improper irrigation practices can worsen this ­situation, turning fertile land into deserts.

These and other issues all point to the urgent need to improve management of our water resources. Although two-thirds of the Earth is covered in water, only a small fraction - some 2.5% - is not salty, and much of that is locked up in icecaps and glaciers. The challenge at the local, regional, and global level is how to protect the Earth's limited store of freshwater, conserve its use, and improve how it is managed. To do this, management decisions must be based on understanding of the cycle of water.

IRC's revised WWD site

IRC launched on 21 February 2002 its revised World Water Day www.worldwaterday.org web site, based on the successful WWD 2001 site it maintained with WHO on Water and Health. The revised site links to the WWD 2002 site of the IAEA. It contains links to water, sanitation and hygiene campaigns of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council and IRC and partners. The site also provides an updated Water for Development advocacy guide, background information about previous years, a selection of photos and links to key organizations. Visitors to the site can add events and comments. From this site they can also go to the events section of IAEA's WWD 2002 site. On the WWD 2001 site more than 100 events were registered and it scored 223,868 page views from end of January until 31 December 2001.

Poverty reduction, economic impact, improved health and reduced drudgery for women are four of the key goals of water sanitation and hygiene programmes. The WSSCC has launched its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for all - WASH campaign: http://www.wsscc.org/about/ccnews.php?id=25 . IRC and partners have called attention for water and the sustainable livelihoods approach: http://www.worldwaterday.org/devpaper.html.

Dick de Jong

Advocacy Officer

IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, Delft, The Netherlands

Phone: 31 15 2192961

Mailto:[email protected]