Society and Health

Nearly half of the food produced in the world is wasted in the journey “from field to fork”.  Because agriculture is, by far, the most voracious consumer of water, that wastage represents an enormous loss of a resource that is already in short supply across much of the planet. 
Depending on the crop, an estimated 15-35 percent of food may be lost in the field. Another 10-15 percent is discarded during processing, transport and storage. In richer countries, production is more efficient but waste is greater: people throw out good food, squandering the resources used to grow, ship and produce it.

This epidemic of waste is happening while material prosperity spreads to new regions and nations.  As more and more people emerge from poverty and join the growing ranks of the middle class they invest their money in eating more water-intensive foods such as beef and dairy products. With 9 billion people expected to populate the planet in 2050, demand for food may increase by 50 percent over the first half of the 21st Century.

A global diet of burgers, milkshakes, and jumbo-size portions for everyone will run the world dry.  Can we find a recipe to feed everyone? 

Do you like burgers? Producing one requires 2,400 litres of water. Do you wear jeans? That will be another 10,000 litres, thank you. Drink coffee? There’s 140 litres used in making just one cup. Embedded in our consumer goods are litres of freshwater used for agriculture, production and transport. Your lifestyle choices and consumption patterns put an imprint on the world’s water resources. So…how big is YOUR water footprint?

By 2030, 5 billion people are expected to inhabit urban areas, constituting about 60 percent of the world’s population. As the number of urban dwellers increases, many major cities have had to draw freshwater from increasingly distant watersheds, as local surface and groundwater sources no longer meet the demand for water, or as they become depleted or polluted. But with smart planning and technology, increased population, density actually can raise resource efficiency and make water service provision cheaper and easier to provide at large scales. Water management is at the centre of the sustainable city boom. What do the solutions look like?

Floods, droughts, hurricanes and landslides drive thousands of people away from their homes each year. The drama and destruction caused by disaster often grab global attention. But after the cameras come and go, the story does not end. With basic infrastructure gone and natural environments disturbed, clean water and sanitary conditions become critical to survival. As the recovery phase is entered, water and sanitation need to be properly integrated into reconstruction processes. Irrigation needs to be set up to revitalize agriculture and ensure food supply. Still, water and sanitation issues risk being forgotten after the initial relief. Who makes sure they are not?

It takes more than thoughtful policies, good plans and innovative systems to drive large-scale positive change in the water and sanitation sectors. Cultural norms, societal taboos, and contextual communication are usually critical factors in the process, often making all the difference between success and failure. Consider the case of the 2009 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak of India. A self-described “action sociologist,” Dr. Pathak is known around the world for his accomplishments spanning the fields of sanitation technology, social enterprise, and healthcare education. Frequently citing the common toilet as one of civilization’s most significant advances, he led the development of cost-effective and culturally appropriate toilets and related treatment systems to replace the traditional unsanitary bucket latrines in poor communities throughout India. At the same time, he waged a decades-long campaign to abolish the dehumanizing practice of manual scavenging of human waste and established hygiene education programs in rural villages and urban slums. What can we learn from Dr. Pathak’s experience that can help us better factor the complexities of culture and human nature in the world’s water and sanitation problems?

How often do you discuss your toilet habits? Not so often? Most of us tend to back away as the topic of sanitation comes up. Still, even if this is a subject most of us would like to avoid, we need to bring it out into the open. 2.4 billion people around the world are still deprived the dignity and security to relieve themselves in a private and safe place. 777 million do not have access to clean drinking water (the water they have to drink is likely to be dirtier than your urine), and they often have to travel several kilometers to get it. Simply building toilets is not the solution – solving the problem has just as much to do with changing behaviors, challenging social patterns and changing political priorities.

In many countries throughout the world, schools have very poor sanitation environments. When water supply, sanitation and hand washing facilities are missing or insufficient, schools become unsafe places where diseases are transmitted and which students are reluctant to attend- or even banned from attending. Interventions at schools not only lead to safer environments, but are an investment for the future. When you teach a child, you teach the whole community. The effects are invaluable: Hygiene education and promotion of hand washing can lead to a reduction of diarrhoeal cases by up to 45%. This saves lives.