Community planning meeting in Segou, Mali
Circle of Blue recently reported on the results of a survey of sustainability experts, and listed their top 19 solutions to the world’s freshwater crisis. The survey was done by GlobeScan, a corporate affairs research firm, and SustainAbility, a strategy consultancy. Respondents, drawn from five sectors - corporate, government (including multi-lateral institutions), NGOs, institutional (e.g., academics) and service (e.g., consultants, media), were asked “What are the technologies or changes in behavior which show the most promise for addressing water shortages over the next 10 years?” They said:
1. Educate to change consumption and lifestyles
2. Invent new water conservation technologies
3. Recycle wastewater
4. Improve irrigation and agricultural practices
5. Appropriately price water
6. Develop energy efficient desalination plants
7. Improve water catchment and harvesting
8. Look to community-based governance and partnerships
9. Develop and enact better policies and regulations
10. Holistically manage ecosystems
11. Improve distribution infrastructure
12. Shrink corporate water footprints
13. Build international frameworks and institutional cooperation
14. Address pollution
15. Public common resources/equitable access
16. R&D/Innovation
17. Water projects in developing countries/transfer of technology
18. Climate change mitigation
19. Population growth control
These answers all sound very familiar, which I take as a good thing. This survey was done for part of a report that companies can purchase for guidance on sustainability. It’s great that these messages are being delivered to corporations, as they have a lot of power to bring about change.
Read the full article here.
4. Improve irrigation and agricultural practices -
Well, no one likes to talk about water loss in existing water networks. Old pipes and poor maintenence causing water loss in such big numbers that it’s almost immpossible to figure.