Global Scans · Clean Water and Sanitation · Weekly Summary

In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
Goal 6. Ensure availability of water and sanitation for all.

• [New] Thames Water has recently placed into special measures by UK water regulator Ofwat, has billions of pounds in outstanding debt and could face nationalization in the future. Real Assets
• [New] Under Ofwat's DDs, average bills will rise by £19 per year in real terms for water and sewerage companies. Oxera
• [New] The DOD has been evasive about whether it will meet state standards when taking short-term removal actions related to PFAS contamination, like providing bottled water to well owners with contaminated drinking water. Environmental Working Group
• [New] Water electrolysis offers an ideal process for hydrogen production, which could play a key role in the global energy transition that increasingly relies on renewable electricity, but whose current production process is extremely carbon intensive. Tech Xplore
• [New] Demand for water is set to outstrip supply by 40% by 2030 if economies are unable to decouple water use from economic growth. GallagherRe
• [New] Demand for water is expected to rise further to 2050 driven by population growth and the desire to increase prosperity. Roland Berger
• The proportion of severe water stress could rise from 19% in 2005 to 35% in 2070, with the areas affected by drought increasing, potentially affecting 3.2 billion people mainly in Southern and Eastern Europe. Elcano Royal Institute
• There is the problem of water withdrawals: [4] water use is predicted to increase by 50% by 2025 in developing countries and by 18% in developed countries, meaning that water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century. Elcano Royal Institute
• By 2025, 1,800 million people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, while two-thirds of the world's population could be under water stress conditions. Elcano Royal Institute
• By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change. Environment
• Moody's report explains that as water shortages intensify due to rapid economic growth and climate change, the potential disruptions to agriculture, industry, and social stability pose significant risks. ThePrint
• Future water scarcity in 2050 is expected to increase by a factor of four in most parts of the Pearl River Basin under a scenario with high economic development and global warming. phys.org
• Piracy remains a significant threat off the coast of Somalia, particularly in the waters near the Gulf of Aden. ARTCENTRON
• The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has already made significant gains in conservation and would not need to achieve its first reduction, 6%, until 2035. Los Angeles Times
• A landmark ruling from the UK Supreme Court relating to sewage dumping in water courses could lead to more owners of waterways taking legal action against polluting water companies. New Civil Engineer
• The near failure of a century-old dam in Minnesota has drawn renewed attention to the vulnerability of the US's ageing water infrastructure. New Scientist
• Future projections point to declining water supply trends and increasing demand in the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, as shown in Supplementary Fig. 3, increasing levels of stress and driving the relative increase in risk. Nature
• South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa regions have the greatest fraction of water supply utility customers at risk, with climate change and socioeconomic growth projections driving the greatest relative increase in risk in the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Nature
• Water use in 2050 is calculated by multiplying the calculated sectoral water use in 2010, by projected sectoral water use changes in the Pearl River Basin between 2010 and 2050. Nature
• The reductions in water scarcity by agricultural water quantity options attain 5% at a cost of $0.25 billion in 2050 for all climate and socioeconomic scenarios (a cost-efficiency of $0.05 billion / 1% of water scarcity abatement). Nature
• Water scarcity based on water quantity only is estimated to be 0.1 per month in 2050 under all climate and socio-economic scenarios, illustrating that water quantity was not a considerable driver of water scarcity in the Pearl River Basin. Nature
• Annual water scarcity considering only water quantity is expected to reach around 0.2, whereas considering both water quality and quantity is expected to be a factor of 24 higher compared to water scarcity considering only water quantity in 2050 under the RCP8.5 - SSP5 scenario. Nature
• Reductions in the supply of clean water are projected in 2050, driven by the increase of TDN pollution levels in rivers of the Pearl Basin. Nature

Last updated: 21 July 2024