What solutions and what to do on their scale?
Wednesday 22 March was World Water Day and the date chosen by the United Nations to start an extraordinary 3-day summit on the global water crisis. From filtering Jaden Smith’s “Water Box” to how often jeans are washed and burgers consumed, the “1 Planet, Solutions” column produced by NOWU in partnership with France Info tells you about the different solutions to the “impending” water crisis facing the world.
A global water summit inaugurated by activist Mina Joly
Water activist Mina Joli kicked off the international conference by finishing the year’s 200th marathon outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Australian has spent her year traveling around the world to raise awareness of the water crisis and “make a voice” for the affected population. It hopes that international leaders will take action commensurate with the problem.
An ambitious “Water Action Program” awaits.
The summit should lead to an “ambitious water agenda” according to the United Nations, the outcome of which will be released on March 24.
Measures that the world seems to need. On Earth, water is becoming increasingly scarce.We use it more and more, we pollute it a lot and droughts are increasing. We saw it again in France this winter, and water restrictions don’t just mean the other side of the world.
According to the United Nations, the distribution of water resources could become a major issue in the coming years and cause international tensions.
Solutions to the global water crisis?
On a very large scale, this seems like it would be very simple: according to AFP, a group of experts has calculated that securing water globally by 2030 will cost just over 1% of global GDP. In addition, “the return on these investments will be enormous.”
So great, but until the money is released, so many projects are popping up around the world.
Key initiatives According to Tajikistan’s Special Envoy for Water, Solton Rimzoda, who believes that “every commitment counts” and that “drop by drop, it will become an ocean.”
Drop by drop will become an ocean […] Every commitment matters.
Sultan Rahimzoda, Tajikistan’s Special Envoy for Water
In South Africa, for example, an engineer has developed an innovative system for making acidic water derived from mining operations drinkable.
On a more glamorous note, a celebrity made headlines a few years back by installing a water filtration system in Flint, US. This is actor and rapper Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith). Waterbox was developed with engineers in response to the health crisis in Flint and today is installed in many US cities.
What do we put in our level?
A good start would be to reduce your water consumption. Today, the average French per capita water consumption is around 150 liters of water per day! That’s 40 liters more than in 1980.
200 liters for a shower, 80 liters for a shower, 42 liters for washing dishes by hand… Water consumption figures for daily activities in France are rising rapidly!
Especially when you have to put your clothes in the washing machine: it uses 90 liters of water. So At NOWU we wondered how to reduce washing. Thanks to the information given to us by the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME), we realized that we were doing our laundry a lot and that we could save a lot on the machines!
Jeans for example, if we obviously don’t roll in the mud with them, we don’t have to wash them no less than fifteen times before we wear them. Even purists will say it should never be washed, but that’s another discussion.
In total, domestic uses account for about a quarter of water consumption in France (24%). But the largest consumer is agriculture (48%)!
On an individual level, avoid wasting food Thus a greener diet remains the most effective way to save water. Because, for example, throwing 1 kg of red meat into the trash means wasting 550 to 700 liters of water needed to produce it.
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