World's Water on Countdown

Erik R. Peterson, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Peter B. Davies, Sandia National Laboratories

"The bottom line here is that billions of lives across the planet will be affected by how well we manage to manage the strategic challenge of water."

"While increasing scarcity implies the possibility of future instability and conflict, it also represents the opportunity for countries to develop joint approaches and cooperative frameworks."

"There is a compelling case for the United States to assume a leadership position on these world water issues."

Erik Peterson and Peter Davies kicked off the first workshop of the Global Water Futures conference with a presentation outlining the dimensions of the global water challenge and proposing paths forward. The multimedia presentation began with an acknowledgement that many people in the developed world do not give a second thought to water quality or access, yet globally such concerns are growing and growing quickly.

Four key human dimensions characterize the looming crisis: water access, water quality, sanitation, and economic development. Access to clean water is lacking in many parts of the world. Over one billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion lack access to improved sanitation, resulting in wasted human energies, poor sanitation, as well as sickness and death that leave many parts of the world underdeveloped.

However, there are solutions. Five key priority areas should begin to formulate an integrated response. First, reducing supply and demand pressures through high-tech and low-tech solutions will mitigate many of the pressures related to the global water challenge. Second, developing infrastructure, particularly for sanitation, will lead us closer to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Each of the first two priorities is heavily dependant on the third, expanding the availability and accessibility of financial resources through official development assistance, international financial institutions, as well as private and public investment. Transitioning to a market-based pricing system for water, the fourth priority area, will promote more efficient use. Finally, promoting multilateral cooperation of shared river basins will mediate many of the geopolitical concerns over shared waterways.

There is a compelling case for the United States to assume a leadership position in each of these priority areas. U.S. national security interests, commercial interests, foreign assistance goals and humanitarian interests will all be served by mobilizing and coordinating resources around the global water challenge.

Back to Workshop One: U.S. Policy Innovation

Full presentation