The Global Water Crisis and Climate Change – from Disaster to Opportunity

In the past year, and with the decline of the Coronavirus, the world returned to focus on the most pressing existential threat – global warming and climate change, and their devastating effects on all of us. One of the main areas critically affected by climate change is the global rainfall cycle, resulting in less rain, more droughts but also extreme rain events bringing with them more destruction than blessings. That extreme weather has badly affected infrastructure and agriculture across Rwanda. We believe that innovative technological solutions to the water crisis can be a central part of dealing with the climate crisis, for both adaptation and mitigation. The close connection between the water crisis and the climate crisis was noted in COP 27 summary statement and will be a central theme in the UN Water Conference that will open the International Water Day, on March 22, at the UN headquarters in New York. While many places in the world have full access to clean tap water inside the compound, in many others, this accessibility is limited and almost nonexistent. According to the recently publicized 5th Population and Housing Census, 82.3% of private households in Rwanda have access to improved drinking water. Of that figure, only 11.5% get their water from a pipe in the compound and 32.5% from a public tap, while 27.6% of private households fetch water from a protected spring. It is estimated that some 2.5 billion people (36% of the world’s population) live in water-scarce areas, a phenomenon that is expected to worsen in coming decades as the powerful processes of climate change, global population growth, growing demand for industrial and agricultural products, and desertification will intensify. Water scarcity is causing migration, wars and conflicts, placing hundreds of millions of people around the world at risk of displacement. In order to overcome this phenomenon, we need to plan a comprehensive national campaign, which will require that all necessary steps be integrated together. This plan should include the following components: to guide and educate on water conservation and smart use; increase water use efficiency; foster international, public, and private funding to improve access to drinking water; rehabilitate polluted water sources; encourage investments and R&D; and above all, to learn how to practice good water management in the local, national, regional and global scale. We must explore new approaches towards investing in water and sanitation-related infrastructures and services, while ensuring each person’s right to safe drinking water. It is important that emphasis be put on the availability and sharing of good practices on the amount, quality, distribution, and access to water, as well as of the risks and use of that water. In this regard, Israel can make a significant contribution to the world as a country with one of the most advanced water systems in the world and with an abundance of R&D and innovative technologies in many fields. One example is the treatment and recycling of sewage: Israel holds a world record in this field, with 95 percent of its wastewater being treated from which almost 90 percent is used in agriculture. Another world record is the prevention of water loss in urban systems. In Israel, a comprehensive variety of technologies and methods have been developed to prevent water loss in supply systems, detect leaks through remote sensors, and more. If this was the status quo the world over, it would be possible to greatly reduce and prevent environmental pollution and the destruction of natural systems, all the while allowing treated and purified water to flow back into nature and agriculture. It would be possible to simultaneously reduce large-scale emission of greenhouse gases, build agricultural resilience against climate change, allow more water for the natural systems – which absorb greenhouse gases – to better function, and prevent unnecessary destruction of ecological systems as the result of pollution or water scarcity. Seawater desalination, the use of brackish water in agriculture, drip irrigation, the development of agricultural varieties that consume less water, and even the extraction of water from air, are all fields that are developed in Israel. Recently, Rwanda hosted Shimon Tal, the ex-water-commissioner of Israel in Rwanda. He held meetings, made a fact-finding field trip and prepared a report on essential needs on the Rwanda water ecosystem. Israel is able and willing to share its accumulated knowhow and best practices with Rwanda to assure that every individual across the country will be able to enjoy the essential right to safe and clean water. The author is the Israel Ambassador to Rwanda.

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The Global Water Crisis and Climate Change – from Disaster to Opportunity