Introduction
Water is a naturally occurring resource. Its importance cannot be emphasized any more than it already has over the past few years of the new millennia. This coupled with the changing climatic trends that result in the short-circuiting of the hydrological cycle, has brought water policies to the forefront of consideration of governments and international organizations. Like every other demographically limited resource, the availability of water is scarce and growing scarcer by the day. However, different regions have different priorities when regarding water resource management. This is brought about by the disparity in economic capacity that brings about the wide variation in technological awareness and by extension, its application to solve environmental issues.
The developed world and the third world, therefore, have different water management policies, and as such, there is the wide variation in the challenges they face as they attempt to enforce the said policy. To better visualize this stark contrast, two representative communities, picked based on region, undergo an analysis and the various key elements emerge for comparison.
Challenges in the North American Community
The first world realized the impact of poor water management policy, and as such, has been rectifying the problem for a longer period. A good example is Europe and North America. According to various reports done by The United Nations, these regions began applying reservoir technology, and that has had is advantages and disadvantages. This has caused a change in the entire ecosystem along the course of the river. Most affected are the downstream regions of major rivers. These dams interfere with the biodiversity along the course of the river by destroying habitats, creating new wetlands and depriving others off their water supply. On the other side, they have successfully managed to provide hydroelectric power to the neighbouring communities. Moreover, they are a vital source of drinking and domestic water. In recent times though, the populations of the countries classified as ‘the first world’ has experienced significant growth, and there is increasing pressure to draw more water than can be naturally replaced, which is one of the greatest problems facing the North American community; most likely the most pressing.
Point source pollution, which is a significant challenge when it comes down to industrial impact on the environment, has been significantly dealt with in the North American region. This is because of greater industrial efficiency, resulting in fewer as well as cleaner post-industry effluents. However, there is still need to reduce this to the minimum. In light of the same, it is also crucial to appreciate the changing nature of the point source pollution. Where it used to comprise of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and most regrettably, heavy metals; the industrial waste now comprises of pharmaceuticals and hormones that are referred to as ‘modern chemicals’ in the UNESCO report (UNESCO, 2012). The effects of these new chemical types are yet to be fully documented and fully researched. However, hormones accelerate growth in marine life that can eventually result in hypertrophication and eventually adverse mutations that may be transferred to human beings upon the consumption of the affected organic elements.
Despite industrial efficiency, there is still a serious challenge posed by pollution due to mining activities such as coal and sulphur mining. Coal for instance is mined in shallow mines that lie in close proximity to the water table. The amorphous form of coal is highly porous and as such, it is very prone to leeching. In its natural and unadulterated state, this is not a problem. With the preliminary purification processes, however, there are toxic by-products such as sulphur oxides in solid state that find their way into the water table, and being what it is(vast and expansive beneath our very own feet) there is no telling how toxic the water that finds its ways into the rivers is.
Another water management challenge faced by the American community is the compliance of water treatment plants with set WHO standards on water purification. This is especially with regards to proper practice on the treatment of waste water. Although it is not considered a major issue, its impact is highly significant. The practice is common with plants located along the shore lines and it goes without saying that the effluent finds its way to the ocean. It affects the biodiversity of the shallows and makes the water appear grey (a colour associated with fresh sewage)
Challenges in the African Community
Africa, in this case, has 46 member states on the most part due to political affiliations of the remaining six Arab states in the Northern part of the continent. The key features characterizing the water resource condition for Africa are the two major deserts, The Sahara Desert and The Kalahari whose presence directly indicates that access to water in those regions in particularly difficult. Rainfall is highly erratic and is not evenly distributed throughout the continent, with the bulk of precipitation occurring in the central forested regions of the continent. The member states face economic challenges, thus access to technology is limited at best, and in the few places, it is available, its application is difficult. There is also need to consider the poor governance in the region that is responsible for keeping the bulk of the African population below the poverty line. This happens to be a leading contributor for their inability to access water for the necessity of drinking.
For starters, communities in this region are plagued by lack of access to water. The occurrence of natural streams notwithstanding, the majority of the population that lives in the urban areas does not have access to clean drinking water. This is because of poor reticulation systems that have failed to keep up with the rising demands of the surging slum populations in the urban areas. The significant drop in infant mortality documented by the World Health Organization means that the population growth rate is bound to increase in the continent, and particularly in the urban slums where various socio-demographic factors come into play to stimulate this growth. Therefore, the municipal infrastructure that is responsible for the reticulation of drinking and domestic water is overused, and as a result, the farther one is from the reticulation point, the greater the likelihood one is to lack access to the water.
In a country such as Kenya (in the Eastern Africa bloc), for instance, various projects have been put in place; to tap natural water for the purposes of irrigation and drinking water supply. There is an immense amount of ignorance towards the exploitation of renewable water resources which are highly underutilized (F.A.O, 2005). To add onto the list of unexploited resources, the continent has not yet developed the capacity to exploit the underground water. A recent geological study of the Turkana region in Kenya, East Africa, revealed that the region harbours one of the richest water tables in the region. This is ironic, because the locality has been in international focus over the last three decades over severe drought and induced famine.
The Kenyan administration has ignored these marginalized peoples. In fact the recent discovery of this water was brought on by the prospect of oil mining within the locality. Two factors come into play here, there is gross mismanagement of water resources on a national scale, and the ignorance of what is right beneath their noses. One of the reasons they cite is the remoteness of the place and lack of funding to expand the current water network, let alone bring it up to the technological capacity to handle the current demand.
It is also worth noting that in order to benefit from water management practices, there is a need for a qualified workforce. The continent is a veritable loser of any intellectual talent to the brain drain. Professionals who would be better placed to deal with their community’s water challenges are seeking other opportunities, and they usually chance upon them in other continents where the financial reimbursement is proportional to the amount of input they give. This leaves communities, like the Eastern African bloc bereft of the know how to deal with these emerging issues.
This phenomenon can be related to the other significant challenge that is affecting Africa’s water resources; industrial pollution by the traditional chemicals unlike in the developed world. Poor industrial practices coupled with the lack of efficiency and poor policy governing industrial effluent have resulted in the large-scale pollution of Africa’s water resources. Corruption and other deep-seated vices have taken their toll on the environment.
Multinationals expand their operations into the region, unspoiled as it is, and in manoeuvres to cut costs incurred by proper waste management, they dispose of industrial waste directly into the continent’s few permanent rivers. The loopholes in the local laws allow them to do this. This has seen the birth of organizations not affiliated with governments that champion the rights of the environment. They seek to prosecute and fine the perpetrators of these crimes against nature. They, however, find this difficult, as there are no concrete laws governing matters of the environment. So the little fresh water available on the continent is rendered useless for drinking purposes on account of greedy and inconsiderate multinationals.
Discussion
These two communities are facing similar problems as regards to water resource management, albeit with considerable variations based on the stage of economic evolution. To solve Africa’s water problems for instance, it requires a complete overhaul of the water policy. As such, it should be replaced with one that aims at providing access to clean drinking water, and exploiting the untapped water potential of the continent. The over- reliance on natural precipitation and river discharge are to be addressed, as well. Major education of the population on water management practices also needs to be carried out. Also, there should be clear laws on pollution, especially of water by multinational industry complexes. Special taskforces that answer only to the head of state should be set up to enforce these said laws. Maybe, just maybe, this will reduce the number of corruptible individuals dealing with this precious resource and by extension; the resource will retain its purity from confluence to delta.
On the other hand, the American community are fully aware of the importance of water and the need to manage the resource. Similarly, they are aware of the scarcity of the commodity and unlike in the third world there are well-enforced policies governing the use of water, and in particular; drinking water. To alleviate their current challenges, the proper handling of chemical waste needs to be addressed. Hormones and pharmaceuticals should be handled separately from other forms of waste, as it happens with nuclear waste. The advancement in technology needs to be used to address safer mining practice with the aim of preserving the quality of underground water in safe drinking standards. Considerable progress has been made in the handling of nuclear waste and this should be applied in other chemical disposal practices.
Storage of potent materials and attenuating their potency is a good way to begin. Some of these chemicals can also be recycled for other purposes. They have the capability to research which ones, they should. Finally irrigation practices can be made more efficient, and they should, to save the water-ways from having to try to naturally attenuate the leeched chemicals that find their way into them.
Works Cited
Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk: Vol. 2. Paris: UNESCO, 2012. Print.
Palmer-Moloney, Laura, and Derek Alderman. Human-environment Interaction and Water Complexities: Mustering Science and Policy for a Coastal Resources Management Approach to Counterinsurgency (coin) Operations. Greenville, N.C.: East Carolina University, 2012. Internet resource.
