equitable distribution of scarce resources - the challenge is still to come

Since water is critical to life, its growing scarcity is a cause of geopolitical realignment and conflict. Where nation states control access to scarce resources, they can allocate supply within their borders as they see fit, hopefully in accordance with policies that are equitable and just. In the international arena, however, things are not so straightforward, and water is only one of a number of resources to be concerned about.

We have only just begun to see what might happen when there isn't enough water to go around. With a few exceptions, I think it is true to say that generally where people have inadequate access to water, it's not because there isn't any available, but because the infrastructure isn't in place to supply it where it's needed. But the number of exceptions to this rule is growing, as demand outstrips supply in more and more areas.

In South Africa, 98% of surface water is already put to use. [via Urban Sprout] Where surface water runs out, we dig down. But again, in South Africa, 41% of this is allocated. It's already become a nonrenewable resource in many other parts of the world, as it can't be replenished at the rate it's extracted. So we look farther afield, and where there is a surplus, pipelines are built to transport it longer distances, until everything is allocated.

jobs, equity and dignity - lessons in sustainability

I have had a number of discussions with colleagues about the importance of addressing social equity and poverty wherever we are - in an industrialised country or a developing one - and about how important these are to sustainability. A post by Kaid Benfield earlier this week on the NRDC Switchboard drove home the point that every society has its vulnerable communities. He reviews a recent report titled Green Cities: How Urban Sustainability Efforts Can and Must Drive America's Climate Change Policies that points out that low-income areas in the US should not be ignored in sustainability strategies, both because there is real potential there for reducing emissions, and because there is an opportunity to improve social and economic conditions in these communities.

Having spent half my life in South Africa and the other half in Canada, I am familiar with conditions (and attitudes) on both sides of the industrial fence. South Africa happens to be a place where poverty and inequity are stark, so it draws people who want to do volunteer work in the "third world". My discussions on this tend to focus on pointing out that the everyday work we do (as planners, designers and engineers) can improve or worsen quality of life, and the implications for vulnerable communities are particularly significant. Just as I need to increase my awareness of how my work affects women, children, the elderly, the unemployed and those who face mobility challenges, so should my colleagues around the world.

The impacts might seem more extreme in South Africa, but one just needs to look at the battles that Jane Jacobs fought in Toronto, New York and elsewhere, over the divisive effect that road projects can have on local neighbourhoods, to see that social inequities can increase wherever planners don't consider the broader impacts of their decisions.

So before we consider providing aid as volunteers, let's make sure we understand what we are doing in our professional work. That's not easy in an era when our disciplines are so narrowly specialised, and integrated planning is more talked about than practised, but we need to try first where we understand the general context. Maybe then we can move out and empower people in other countries.

I would also venture to suggest that developing countries have a lot of knowledge to offer to others. Maybe it's from knowing that more livelihoods are at stake, or having a strong grasp of the value of community and indigenous knowledge - either way, many developing countries still have an edge that seems to have vanished from the industrialised world. Public sector priorities for community development projects in South Africa are often driven more by the recognition of human dignity than by the need for addressing individual human rights. There is even a programme for improving degraded public spaces, and it's called Dignified Open Spaces.

Picture: Old Mutual using dignity to sell financial services.

Human rights are important, of course, but if we focus on dignity we will almost automatically make planning decisions that establish a healthy balance between the needs of the community and the individual, between equity and rights. We may even start to see how to deal better with some of the other trade-offs that are made daily in public planning processes.

age-old wisdom applied to modern challenges

I don't advocate sending us back to pre-industrial times as a solution to modern society's environmental impacts. Moving towards a sustainable lifestyle requires incremental steps - we can't instantly do away with cars and other technologies that rely on fossil fuels. But efforts to wean ourselves off environmentally damaging practices can certainly benefit from technologies that were developed thousands of years ago, like provencal wells, solar chimneys, passive solar designs for buildings, and underground clay pots for irrigation. Another example is using nets to collect water from fog, as in Peru, where a net can collect hundreds of litres a day.

As far back as 2,000 years ago, desert villages and other rain-starved communities around the world may have started harvesting fog that collected as water and dripped from trees, said Robert Schemenauer, executive director of FogQuest, a Canadian nonprofit organization that helps communities set up simple collection devices.

This is a great demonstration of adaptation to climate change. Lima gets rainfall of only 1.5 cm a year, and relies for water on meltwaters from glaciers in the Andes - and those glaciers are shrinking, causing scientists to caution that this water supply one day will be no more. What better replacement than fog harvesting, which taps a resource that otherwise goes to waste, and benefits those who need it most: communities on the hills surrounding Lima, where it would be expensive to bring piped municipal water.

Like many other strategies, this cannot be applied on a large scale, but that shouldn't stop us finding local solutions to big challenges. And clean water supply is a huge one.

world water day

WWF South Africa forecasts a water deficit of 1.7 percent by 2025 in SA - without considering the effects of climate change. So WWF, with the government's Working for Water Programme, has launched a water neutral scheme that companies can join to show their commitment. Woolworths has signed up with a plan to cut its relative consumption by 30% by 2012, using strategies like eliminating thirsty alien plants from its supplier farms. SA Breweries and Sanlam have also joined.

Barbara Schreiner, former Deputy-Director General for Water Affairs, speaking at launch, said, "There is an urgent need to act in a concerted, coordinated and proactive manner. Failure to act now could place the country on a slippery slope leading to the critical loss of the freshwater ecosystems that underpin water security and sustainable economic growth in South Africa."

Check out World Water Day.

how green is your valentine?

From sexy organic cotton T-shirts (some designed to unleash your inner eco-warrior) to knickers that change colour as they warm up to show the effects of global warming, there seems to be many ways to salve a guilty conscience.

But is organically grown cotton really green? Although I haven't gone so far as to shun cotton, I have a hard time believing that any cotton can be good for the environment - organic or not. Some people argue that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will boost cotton yields, and the cotton industry lobbyists tout its ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. And certainly organic cotton is better than regular cotton for its  reduced use of insecticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers to grow it.

Possibly the biggest problem with cotton is the water consumed - and this applies equally to organic cotton. According to a study released last August:

The UK has become the sixth largest net importer of water in the world, the environment group WWF will tell a meeting of international experts in Stockholm, with every consumer indirectly responsible for the use of thousands of litres a day. Only 38% of the UK's total water use comes from its own resources; the rest depends on the water systems of other countries, some of which are already facing serious shortages.

The study makes the first attempt to measure the UK's total "water footprint" and highlights the extent to which our imports come from countries which are running out of fresh water. It calculates that:

Average household water use for washing and drinking in the UK is about 150 litres a person daily, but we consume about 30 times as much in "virtual water", used in the production of imported food and textiles.

Hemp would be better for conserving water. There is more, though, and this is where cotton growing hits home in Africa. Joseph E Stiglitz writes on the issue of subsidies and global trade:

Subsidies hurt developing country farmers because they lead to higher output – and lower global prices. The Bush administration – supposedly committed to free markets around the world – has actually almost doubled the level of agricultural subsidies in the US.

Cotton illustrates the problem. Without subsidies, it would not pay for Americans to produce much cotton; with them, the US is the world’s largest cotton exporter. Some 25,000 rich American cotton farmers divide $3 to $4 billion in subsidies among themselves – with most of the money going to a small fraction of the recipients. The increased supply depresses cotton prices, hurting some 10 million farmers in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

rocking the boat

Are the absurdities of South African politics spreading like a tsunami across the landscape? When leaders blame the media for the fallout from their own improprieties, when organisations think that silencing individuals can right wrongs, when the emphasis is on image rather than character, then I have to wonder.

Water is the world's most precious commodity, bar none. We'll get over the energy crisis, one way or another. We'll continue to grow food. And the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression is a mere blip on the timeline of human existence. But water? Irreplaceable. So when the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research throws researcher Dr Anthony Turton out with the bathwater for making a few provocative statements about the water crisis, the Council has raised a storm of protest. Taking a leaf out of the political rulebook, the CSIR thinks that silencing opinion can protect its reputation.

Help make waves: sign a petition protesting the suspension of Dr Turton and this encroachment on academic freedom. Details of the case are provided at the linked site.

micro devices for macro effect

Discussion about the WaterMill -- a small-scale dehumidifier that collects and cleans water from the air -- leads to conjecture not only about how much of our drinking water could come from the air, but also about whether the urban microclimate could be significantly altered by installing thousands of these low-energy devices. Could we do away with a significant number of energy-sapping air conditioners by making our environment more comfortable through a combination of better building design, appropriate clothing, vegetating the landscape and reducing the ambient humidity with thousands of WaterMills?

outmoding the commode

What the modern fridge does for household electricity consumption, the modern toilet does for water. Actually, the toilet - in its most common form - is not modern at all, and it's time for a makeover. But toilets that use little or no water face the same problem I mentioned yesterday in relation to the energy-efficient refrigerator: poor public image. I am not talking about the low-flow models that are now fairly common in some countries. Five- or six-litre flush toilets are a bit like the hybrid car: better than gas-guzzling 4x4 vehicles, but not something that will really wean us off liquid fuels.

I am talking about a litre or less per flush. We need a revolution in the water closet, and Dwell magazine presents a few models that might do the trick. But they are a long way from price levels that will encourage widespread adoption, and some of them still look like they belong in a caravan, not a house. Design, design, design.

solar-powered water treatment

At least one third of the population in developing countries has no access to safe drinking water. The lack of adequate water supply and sanitation facilities causes a serious health hazard and exposes many to the risk of water-borne diseases. And believe it or not, there is a low-cost, low-tech way to treat and disinfect water in small quantities. [via Sociolingo's Africa]

urban farm resources

I'm always on the lookout for urban applications of low-impact technologies. City Farmer in Vancouver has a lot of information related to urban agriculture, with a detailed discussion of their compost toilet and information on irrigation using grey water and rain water. Their composting toilet page also has a link to the Biolytix Waste Treatment System that is available in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Biolytix uses an aerobic method to break down toilet waste so that the liquids can be used for irrigation, unlike septic tanks where pathogens thrive.