Q&A: Using conservation and conversation to tackle the global water crisis

Conservation “is the biggest untapped solution” when it comes to tackling global water threats, according to Sandra Postel, the founder of the Global Water Policy Project and 2021’s Stockholm Water Prize laureate. “We're using more and more [water], and of course water is finite. We're tapping out some of the groundwater supplies, we're over-tapping rivers, [and] we have major rivers running dry,” said Postel, who began communicating about the global water crisis — encompassing the threats of water scarcity, climate change, and the loss of freshwater biodiversity — over 40 years ago. Historically, solutions have been focused on expanding the water supply, she said. “If we're going to run short, build a new dam, build another diversion from the river to the city, [or] build a desalination plant. Conservation wasn't really looked at as anything other than an emergency response to drought.” But today, thanks to new technology, opportunities around water conservation and efficiency are getting bigger, she said. For example, technology that determines the amount of water in soil allows farmers to meet crops’ exact needs without over-irrigating. Trained to solve one problem at a time, water practitioners, engineers, and policymakers must “get creative” and emulate other solutions, such as conservation, that tackle multiple water challenges simultaneously while building climate resilience, Postel said. “It's been several decades now that we've been paying attention to the consequences and recognizing that water scarcity has implications way beyond water availability.” --— Sandra Postel, founder, Global Water Policy Project “‘Now we're going to have a shortage, and so we better solve that shortage,’ or, ‘We've got a pollution problem; well, we'd better build a water treatment plant’ — those are fine solutions, they work, and we've demonstrated that. But I think we can get more creative at working with natural systems and solving multiple problems at the same time,” she said. Speaking to Devex, Postel shared her take on the biggest threats to water, the arguments that work best when communicating about the issue, and the most effective solutions already in play. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. What are the biggest threats to water today? If you look at the amount of water we're withdrawing versus the amount of water that's there in a renewable way, we're stretched to the limits in more and more places. We have many more areas that are in chronic depletion, seasonal depletion, depletion during droughts, and it's affecting a much wider part of the world. Early on [in my career], I spent some time looking at groundwater. … At that time, we didn’t have the satellite data we have now, but it was clear from looking at the United States, India, China, Pakistan — those are the top four irrigators — that the depletion of groundwater was the sleeping tiger of global water issues. It was out of sight, so we weren't really confronting it. And I remember doing back-of-the-envelope calculations at the time — this was before the internet, so the data wasn't there the way it is now — but even then, piecing together what we could, it seemed that as much as 10% of the world's food supply depended on the unsustainable use of groundwater. That number is still pretty right; it might be a bit more, and it's certainly more in a country like India. So that depletion area really got worse over the years. Over the decades, what changes have you seen around the awareness of water issues and work being done to tackle the problem? There has definitely been a big increase in concern in a number of organizations and in the prioritization of water, water stress, [and] water scarcity. … It's been several decades now that we've been paying attention to the consequences and recognizing that water scarcity has implications way beyond water availability. It's affecting food security, social stability, [and] political stability — recognizing all of the ways water stress and water scarcity affects human societies we’ve come to understand in an important way. Even the intelligence community and the military [have begun] to be concerned about the effects on regional peace and security. As someone who has been writing and talking about water scarcity for many years, what are the calls to action you make, and how do you effectively communicate these? First, to emphasize the importance of water being more than a resource. We're accustomed to calling water a resource, which can often put it in the same category as oil, coal, copper, things we extract from the earth to bring into our economy. Water is that, but it’s so much more. It’s the basis of life; it’s the fundamental support system for life on the planet. Once we start from that place, then we have to think about the web of life — what's happening to the diversity of life on the planet. … Populations have declined, and that's a big concern for the health of freshwater ecosystems [and] for the web of life in general, of which we're a part. I really try to emphasize that we're all connected through the water cycle. A good thing is we can all play a role in achieving a healthier ecosystem, in achieving a better balance, and building resilience, especially in the face of climate change. Each of us has a water footprint, so if we're an individual asking, “What can I do?” one thing is to look carefully at our personal water footprint. And that consists not just of the water we're using at home, but water in our diet, in our energy use, and all the things that it takes to produce all the things we use and buy. I've always been focused on solutions, but I really went about [writing] the book [“Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity”] looking for examples on the ground that showed we can fix the water cycle, the rivers and groundwater, [and] the soil and still have prosperity at the same time, that we don't have to sacrifice human well-being [and] prosperity for a healthier water cycle. In fact, they're mutually supportive. In every case of where the global water cycle needed repair and replenishment, I did find inspiring examples of where that could happen and how that could happen. … That's the challenge I would talk about to decision-makers and policymakers at the local, state, provincial, national, and global levels: The problems are worsening faster than we're scaling up the solutions. What specific examples are there that could be scaled up? Flood control provides a good example. We know that floods are going to worsen with climate change. Instead of trying to reduce flood damages by raising the height of levees, we can strategically re-connect rivers with their natural flood plains. In this way, we can mitigate floods but also capture more carbon in the restored flood plain wetlands; recharge groundwater, which builds resilience against droughts; and expand critical habitat for fish, birds, and wildlife. Nature-based solutions often solve multiple problems simultaneously — and that’s a big plus. Visit the WASH Works series for more coverage on water, sanitation, and hygiene — and importantly, how WASH efforts intersect with other development challenges. You can join the conversation using the hashtag #WASHWorks.