Sustainable Development: These are drying times for us all

Without adequate supplies of clean water, sustainable development is a two-word joke

What's the problem?

From Bangladesh to Florida, the world is running out of water. In Dhaka, it's a daily crisis. In Florida – with maybe five years' supplies left – a looming threat. Even the drizzly English can't afford to get smug: large parts of the east are getting through groundwater reserves at a rate that's dangerously close to unsustainable.

Meanwhile, over a billion of the world's poor don't have safe drinking water; many more lack decent sanitation. During the 10 days of the Johannesburg summit, over 50,000 children will die of water-borne diseases. And the number of Africans without decent water has actually increased since Rio.

In the UK, we spend billions of pounds and vast amounts of fossil fuels cleaning all our water supplies to drinkable standard – only to flush huge torrents straight down the loo...

Where are the solutions?

Getting clean water and decent sanitation to the world's poor is priority number one. That means two things: first, safeguard the water-friendly natural features: forested hillsides, for example, provide a steady source of water while soaking up floods.

Second, improve water supplies and hygiene. Northern expertise can be hugely helpful here, but it needs to be a genuine partnership with poor communities – not just a privatising gravy train. UK water companies such as Northumbrian have joined with the WWF and Water Aid (www.wateraid.org.uk) in a "Partnership for Water and Sanitation", helping local authorities in Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa acquire the skills to deliver sufficient supplies.

Keep it flowing

A similar sort of scheme has transformed the lives of the people of Kandiga in Ghana, where water was desperately short, sanitary facilities rare, and dysentery and cholera rife. Under a Water Aid project, the community provided labour and contributed funds. WaterAid came up with skilled expertise and materials. The locals maintain and manage the pumps, using funds that they themselves contribute monthly to pay for repairs. Waterborne diseases are now a thing of the past; school enrolment has increased, and the primary school is now fully staffed – teachers accept jobs as there is water nearby.

Waters of the intifada

Using water wisely can help massively in agriculture, too. Drip irrigation cuts losses; careful choice of crops keeps water needs to a minimum. Starved of water by the Israeli occupation, Palestinian farmers have become unlikely leaders in sustainability, "harvesting" rainwater on roofs and using improvised filter beds in backyards to clean wastewater fit for reuse.

Back home, we're learning the wisdom of such techniques too. The "BedZed" housing development near Croydon features a "living machine" that purifies rain and "grey" (waste) water. The water's filtered through a concentrated reed bed system housed in a greenhouse: microbes in the mini-marsh break down the pathogens. Out comes water almost good enough to drink, plus wholesome compost that will delight any gardener.

MW