The Surprising Solutions to the World's Water Crisis

Water scarcity in Northern Kenya

• The lands in Northern Kenya have been home to nomadic tribes for thousands of years, but the area has transformed from a dense forest to a resource-poor desert due to drought, with the people of Takana and their livestock being on the front line of a battle to secure water (43s).
• By 2025, half of the world's population will face water scarcity due to growing populations, water mismanagement, and climate change, leading to rising global tensions (56s).
• The world's water cycle, which is responsible for all life on Earth, has been stable for thousands of years but is now being disrupted by human activities such as extracting water from rivers and underground aquifers, and climate change (2m30s).
• The people of Northern Kenya, who have a nomadic lifestyle, are experiencing the effects of climate change, including more intense rains, erratic weather patterns, and prolonged droughts, making access to water a constant concern (3m45s).
• Joel and June, who work for Practical Action, an international development group, are responding to the crisis in the region by identifying areas with serious challenges in terms of access to water and food (3m55s).
• The men in the community practice pastoralism, a tradition of roaming across grasslands raising livestock, which is reliant on rain for pasture to grow, making them among the first victims of the effects of climate change (4m22s).
• The pressure on pasture and water points has resulted in violent clashes, with hundreds losing their lives each year, and the strain is felt not only by the men but also by the women and girls of the community, who are culturally responsible for fetching water (6m8s).
• The women used to go to the river, which is more than 10 km from the community, to fetch water, highlighting the challenges they face in accessing this essential resource (6m17s).
• In areas where rivers run dry, women and girls often dig scoop holes to extract water from the river bed, which can be as deep as 10 meters, and this process can be hazardous, with reported fatalities due to collapses (6m22s).
• To address this issue, storage tanks have been implemented to store water drawn from deep underground aquifers using solar power, providing a sufficient supply for growing crops and reducing the need for women to carry water (7m5s).
• This initiative has led to a shift in the community's livelihood, with women transitioning from water carriers to farmers, and the allotments becoming a central part of the community (7m30s).
• The harvest from these allotments provides enough food for the community, with leftover produce being sold to earn money for school fees and other expenses (8m1s).
• One of the women, Susan, has seen significant improvements in her life, including reduced malnutrition problems and increased economic opportunities (8m42s).
• The introduction of this sustainable water supply has also led to a change in the power dynamic between women and men in the community, with women taking on more responsibilities and gaining greater autonomy (9m3s).

The global water crisis

• However, concerns remain about the long-term sustainability of this solution, as the aquifer could run dry, and the solar panels could break, leaving the community vulnerable to external factors (9m35s).
• Water scarcity affects over two billion people worldwide and is expected to displace 700 million people by 2030, making it a pressing humanitarian and national security issue (10m2s).
• According to Darnish Massud Alivi, a peace and security technologist, water deprivation can become a source of conflict and contestation, particularly in regions like the Tigris-Euphrates Basin, where Turkey's damming of the river has downstream consequences in Iraq (10m30s).
• Alivi uses data from NASA's Grace Mission to track water scarcity and predict potential conflict zones, highlighting the critical importance of water as a resource (11m31s).
• Scientists can track water movement around the planet by monitoring changes in the gravitational pull on satellites caused by water saturation in the ground, allowing them to construct maps of water movement (11m50s).
• By analyzing these maps, researchers can identify areas where water is being depleted quickly, such as in Iraq, where a significant decrease in water availability was observed between 2007 and 2016 (12m11s).
• The data on water depletion is compared to other information, including social unrest, revealing a correlation between water scarcity and increased conflict in already stressed situations (12m38s).
• The goal of this research is to provide governments and authorities with data to better prepare for potential conflicts related to water scarcity (13m2s).
• Different countries have varying ideas about how to use water, making it a sovereign matter, and climate change is expected to exacerbate water-related challenges (13m21s).
• The Amazon rainforest plays a crucial role in global food security, with 20% of its evaporated water falling on US agricultural land, highlighting the interconnectedness of water resources (13m36s).
• The level of water stress is increasing, and the need for sharing resources is becoming more acute, making it essential to consider the bigger picture when using water (14m11s).

Water management in London

• Even in cities like London, built on a river, controlling the natural resource is becoming a problem due to aging infrastructure and changing weather patterns (14m45s).
• London's water system relies on rainfall, groundwater, and rivers to supply a network of reservoirs, which are then treated and pumped into taps across the city (15m15s).
• The entire water cycle in London relies on rainfall to replenish the supply, but the system was originally built for a different time and is struggling to cope with more extreme weather patterns (15m41s).
• The aging infrastructure in London is at risk of flash flooding due to its inability to cope with more extreme rainfall, highlighting the need for updates and improvements (16m21s).
• Southeast England, where London is located, has a lower average rainfall than Perth and South Sudan, and is at a high risk of droughts, with the reservoir potentially running dry in 25 years (16m53s).
• Drought and flooding are two sides of the same coin, as they both result from the stresses on the water system, which will only worsen over time (17m15s).

Case study: Singapore's reclaimed water system

• Cities like Mexico City, Bangalore, and Cape Town have faced severe water crises, with Singapore experiencing "Day Zero" over 60 years ago, prompting the country to prioritize securing its water supply (18m8s).
• Singapore's water stress is due to its small land size, leading to a lack of space for large lakes and reservoirs, unlike countries like the UK or US (19m4s).
• To address this issue, Singapore has developed a new water project, which involves collecting and treating every drop of water, then returning it to the system (19m25s).
• The treated wastewater is purified and sent back to feed water-hungry industries and top up reservoirs, creating an artificial water cycle (19m50s).
• The three-stage purifying process involves microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and UV radiation, resulting in clean drinking water without the need for chemical treatment (20m30s).
• Harry Seer, an engineer for Singapore's National Water Agency, has been working on this project for nearly three decades and describes the process as "fancy filtration" (21m1s).
• A person tastes reclaimed water from sewage in Singapore, describing it as just water, which is amazing (21m11s).
• The National Water Agency in Singapore reports that reclaimed water supplies the country with about 40% of its water needs, aiming to provide over half by 2060 (21m32s).
• Singapore has learned the importance of self-sufficiency in water supply since hitting "day Zero," reducing reliance on unpredictable water movement (21m44s).
• The success of Singapore's reclaimed water system is attributed to the element of trust, which can be easily lost with one mistake, but the country has managed to persuade people of its value (22m8s).
• The principle in Singapore is that water is not only for drinking but for life, and valuing water leads to changes in philosophy, thinking, and approach (22m25s).

Conclusion

• The future of the world's water supply is uncertain, with challenges including too little, too much, and ownership battles, but technology and a change in mindset can help (22m39s).
• Saving water is often seen as a minor environmental concern, but it is actually a national security concern, as realized in Singapore after hitting rock bottom (23m18s).
• The hope is that the rest of the world will learn the lesson about the value of water as a resource before facing a similar crisis (23m35s).