Water

By Janice Shiu

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”Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socioeconomic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. It is vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, welfare, and productivity of populations. It is central to the production and preservation of a host of benefits and services for people. Water is also at the heart of adaptation to climate change, serving as the crucial link between the climate system, human society and the environment.”

-UN International Decade for Action “Water for Life” 2005-2015

The United Nations predicts that 2/3 of people will live in water-stressed countries by 2025. Approximately half of the world population currently lives in urban areas. By 2050, two thirds of the world population will live in urban areas, with the greatest growth occurring in developing nations that currently have limited ability to deal with these changes in demography.¹ Additionally, cities in developed nations must find ways to reduce their water consumption and upgrade their current infrastructure. Due to the pressures of growing populations and declining water resources, it is of vital importance that policy changes and new technologies are developed in order to ensure the sustainable use and continual existence of water resources. As such, we hope to design solutions for urban areas, by 2050, to accomplish the following:

• Balance water usage with water replenishment: replenish groundwater at the same rate at which it is extracted to prevent water reserves from being exhausted in the future.
• Reduce water use: improve the efficiency of water use to reduce stress on water sources that will be increasingly strained as populations and needs increase.
• Provide accessible and affordable clean water: provide access to clean water as a basic human right to all residents that must be met in urban areas for the sake of public health.
• Optimize water capital and operational costs of infrastructures: find appropriate solutions that consider funding and resource constraints, the abilities of governments to implement them, and users of shared water resources.
• Improve distribution infrastructure: fix existing infrastructure such that waste from leaks and inefficient design is reduced
• Prevent water pollution: prevent water pollution in existing waterways to ensure the usability of water sources in the future.

To ensure that limited water resources do not become depleted and that all people will be able to fulfill their basic water needs, governments and new technologies should follow our guidelines to adapt to the inevitable growth of demand for water.