Water aristocracy

“In shallow waters, shrimps will make fools of dragons.” That Asian adage is the backdrop for the 21st World Water Week conference which opened in Stockholm Sunday. Over 2,000 scientists, bankers and economists are discussing, in this annual meeting, “Water in an Urbanizing World.”

Set aside, for now, is the need for food, homes, schools and health services. The focus is on water demand, as seen in population profiles of cities. Metro Manila ranks 11th among the world’s 15 largest cities. It contains an estimated 16.3 million people—all needing water. As more people turn on faucets, water tables slump.

Tokyo, Seoul, Mumbai, Jakarta, Delhi, Osaka, Shanghai and Calcutta account for eight of the world’s 15 largest urban centers. Four years from now, there will be 27 megacities, Emma Porio of the Ateneo University foresees. Of these, 18 will be in Asia. “By 2050, more people will live in cities than the number of people living in the entire world today.”

In the Philippines, 54 out of every 100 lived in cities in 2007. What does this “implosion” imply? For an answer, hit the rewind button for 1990. That year only 30 out of every 100 lived in 60 cities, the National Statistics Office recalls. By 2020, the number of urban Filipinos will be double their rural counterparts.

The highest concentrations of people today cluster in the National Capital and Southern Tagalog regions. Metro Cebu and Metro Davao are mirror images of that surge. Today, the Philippines has 138 cities, if 16 unqualified towns are included in the roster, thanks to a flip-flop-flip Supreme Court decision.

Many cities are saddled with below-par water facilities even as births and migration interlock. A “youth bulge” characterizes this migrant torrent, San Carlos University’s Socorro Gultiano and Peter Xenos of East-West Center point out. The hormones of these young migrants are on overdrive. They will tarry in the reproductive age bracket longer.

Therefore, kiss goodbye the hoped-for slowdown in birthrates. It won’t materialize anytime soon, not even if the reproductive health bill gets into law books. But demand for just about everything else will spiral. And there is no substitute for water.

Water shortages cripple economies and invariably trigger debilitating diseases and premature deaths. Diarrhea is the second child killer here. Every day, 10,000 kids under 5 die due to tainted water, mostly in Third World countries. Hence, city governments must craft policies that reach beyond brittle underground aquifers and tap surface water.

Cebu is the classic example of a city that secures 95 percent of its water by over-pumping. In the process, it wrecks irreversibly its narrow aquifers.

“Distant water won’t quench your thirst.” Often, surface water sources are located far beyond city limits. In this region, “cities are reaching out to more distant sources of water,” the Asian Development Bank notes. However, “relocating industries close to water sources no longer means assured supply.”

Aside from getting investors for surface water projects, cities must develop the twin track of water conservation. The Rainwater Catchment Law is universally ignored here. This blanket failure wastes a critical resource, Magsaysay awardee Antonio Oposa grouses. “A fool is thirsty in the midst of water,” an Ethiopian adage says.

Contrary to myth, Asia does not have abundant freshwater endowments. It has, in fact, among the world’s lowest. Over the past half century, per capita availability has declined by 55 percent in Southeast Asia. A Filipino, for example, has 6,332 cubic meters available yearly. Compare that to 26,105 cubic meters for Malaysians or 94,353 cubic meters for Canadians. Saudi Arabians have only 118 cubic meters. But Saudis swap oil for water. “Any well in the desert will do,” an Arab proverb says.

These disparities anchor a little-recognized but real “aristocracy of water.” Skewed possession of this vital resource absorbs the on-going Stockholm conference. “Cities are engines of growth,” writes Anders Berntell of Stockholm International Water Institute. “But all too often, lack or poorly functioning water and sanitation systems carry heavy social and human costs. They adversely affect women… Wise management and recycling of water, within and around cities … can reduce social and economic tensions in an increasing variable water future.”

Will our policymakers plow through the wealth of peer-reviewed papers, before the Stockholm meeting? They should. Some have relevance to the parched Philippine setting. “Policy cocktails for protecting coastal waters from land-based activities” is one. “Pathways to improved water quality” is another. Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo’s staff may find it worth their while to leaf through “Enabling sustainable water service delivery by local government.”

Too often, the poor pay far more for water than those in affluent enclaves. A family living in a squatter’s shack in Cebu City pays 13 times for water than a family in the gated Maria Luisa enclave home, notes the UN World Water Development Report. This is water aristocracy set on its head.

“Difficulties encountered in accessing water frequently fix the position of the poor on the poverty ladder,” the ADB notes in “Water for All.” “Water security has become a key issue for survival… Today stakeholders see more clearly that the future will be more concerned with managing a dwindling resource—and mitigating adverse impacts of a profligate past.”

(Email: juanlmercado@gmail.com)