Asia water supply ‘past its tipping point’
By TERESA CEROJANO, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 12, 6:58 am ET MANILA, Philippines – Booming populations, rapid urbanization and competing demands for food and energy will drain Asia’s dwindling freshwater supplies unless the region better manages its resources, experts said Tuesday. Unless something is done, demand for water will exceed supply by 40 percent by 2030, threatening food production, energy security, economic growth and raising cross-border tensions over water resources, the Asian Development Bank said. “Asia’s water world has gone past its tipping point. The challenge now is to urgently halt, if not reverse, the decline in freshwater availability,” said Arjun Thapan, ADB special senior adviser. Around 80 percent of the region’s water is used to irrigate crops, but much is used inefficiently. Many countries also lose large amounts of treated water through leakage in urban water supply systems, with losses estimated at about $9 billion a year. “Twenty years from now, unless Asia alters the way it manages its water resources, it is likely to be critically short of water,” Thapan said. … Thapan said the total volume of accessible freshwater has been shrinking everywhere across Asia, most notably in India and China — home to more than a third of the world’s population.
