Management of water and energy resources: Policies should be integrating in nature

Dr B K Mukhopadhyay

(The author is a Professor of Management and Economics, formerly at IIBM (RBI) Guwahati. He can be contacted at m.bibhas@gmail.com)

The interdependencies between water and energy offer many positive synergies that can help achieve both energy and water security. Acclaimed author Steven Solomon argues that a paradigm shift in resource planning and management must be devised that treats water and energy as inseparable, complementary components of a linked continuum, where policy choices in one realm alter options and outcomes in the other. Accordingly, while the global population quadrupled in the 20th century, demand for freshwater resources increased nine fold during the same period. Solomon provides a glimpse into the world of water ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. He outlines how countries like China and even entire regions like Central Asia are threatened by their own water scarcity, with cascading impacts on economic growth and national security.

Rightly, the urgent appeal from a number of leading global institutions is for better integration of water and energy policies to help find solutions to looming shortages. “There is a growing realization that we can no longer think about energy and water separately,” according to Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute in California.

Water, Water: Not Everywhere

So far as the water front is concerned, ADB’s [Asian Development Bank] observations are very important to note: water will play an increasing role as a power source for Asia, but supplies are already under threat. Accordingly, China and India, the world’s most populous nations, are expected to have a combined shortfall of one trillion cubic metres (35 trillion cubic feet) of water within the next 20 years. Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam are already under conditions of “water stress”, meaning that they are experiencing periodic or limited water shortages.

A recent survey of more than 700 US utilities firms by Black & Veatch showed that, for the first time, water supply was the top environmental concern among the respondents. Asia is likely to face the same problems. “It will truly be exacerbated in this region because of the urban densities that are there. You’ve got tremendous numbers of highly concentrated urban areas,” as was rightly observed by Rodman. In India, for example, though accessibility to drinking water has increased considerably during the last decade in particular, a significant portion of the rural and urban population still does not have access to regular, safe drinking water, and during the critical summer especially, the condition goes from bad to worse in many parts of the country. Excessive extraction of groundwater to meet agriculture, industrial, and domestic demands is steadily harming rural and urban settlements.

It is not a problem in India alone; it is a global phenomenon—an area where immediate, adequate attention is to be paid so that things do not go from bad to worse. It is essential for survival, more important than anything else, and the most crucial factor considered from the point of view of environment protection, poverty alleviation, and promoting development. As of now, globally, more than two and a half billion people live under the most abysmal standards of hygiene and sanitation. Wastage of water and the absence of regular clean water supply, not only to the burgeoning metropolis but also to huge rural regions, coexist simultaneously.

One-third of the U.S. and one-fifth of Spain still suffer from water stress. Central Africa’s Lake Chad, supporting the very lives of 30 million plus people, has already shrunk to one-tenth of its former size, the negative contributory factors being climate change, drought, mismanagement, and overuse, among others. It is high time that the issue be placed high on the global agenda. In fact, the world is urgently required to adapt to reality. There is still enough water for all of us, if and only if we keep it clean and share it. In fact, we face the challenge that we must make safer stores of water available to all.

What about the energy sector?

Simultaneously, the question of energy security comes to the fore. “If you squander water, if you indiscriminately use power, then in the long run that will have implications for the world,” said the chief executive of Black & Veatch, a major global water and energy company. Given water’s role in power generation, water supply is increasingly a major concern.

To be specific, energy security essentially refers to the uninterrupted availability of energy for the economy at all times, at prices that are broadly in line with what the rest of the world pays.

The moot point here is that energy security is crucially important because it is a necessary condition for state sovereignty, without which the independence of statehood is void of its meaning. It is also a necessary precondition (necessary but not entirely sufficient) for sustainable economic growth, the inflow of foreign direct investment, economic stability, and international competitiveness, which are conditions sine qua non for the welfare of its citizens. Hence, a simultaneous treatment of these major challenges!

Essentially, energy efficiency is a strategic issue in the development process, and countries like India have to strive to build an energy-efficient society. If we look at the global picture, we could definitely conclude that no country is energy-independent. Even Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, imports refined petroleum products like gasoline. Gasoline is imported by UAF, Norway, and also Nigeria, whereas natural gas is still imported by Russia and UAF, and electricity and coal by Russia and Norway. Thus, the regions with abundant raw resources also rely on the import of some form of energy resource.

The fact remains that the vast majority of countries rely on a few energy-producing nations rich in hydrocarbon sources. Therefore, energy independence remains an unrealistic goal. Balancing the needs of producers and consumers is thus as crucial as increasing supply and curbing demand. It is better to remember that oil demand is projected to grow up to 115 million barrels per day (MBPD) by 2030, as against 82 MBPD in 2004!

Integration of policies

on this score is vital

“These two things—water and energy—come together, and that’s a big thing for the world to understand,” rightly observed Len Rodman, a renowned US-based water and energy expert. Water is used not only to generate power through dams and steam but also as a coolant for nuclear, coal, and gas-fired power plants, which are competing with agriculture, industry, and urban consumption for water supplies. Especially, the Asian Development Bank’s recent forecast should be counted on. The region’s energy demand is expected to double by 2030 to 6,325 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent, or about 74 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. So, the time now calls for countering the evolving situation.

Full-fledged cooperation among the major energy-consuming nations in the matter of development and exploiting energy resources, especially in energy conservation, improvement of energy efficiency, development of alternative energy resources, environmental protection concerning energy utilization, and finally, contribution towards maintaining the stability and security of international energy supply, are crucial needs. For that matter, no doubt, efforts must be made to promote the use of solar, wind, and tidal energy, biomass, and other renewable energy sources, keeping in mind the fact that the demand for petroleum products in the country has been growing at a rate of around 3 times per annum. There are obviously multiple elements to address the issue of securing energies. Minimizing the size of strategic reserves, diversifying the geography of supply sources, and changing the modes of fuel transport are the other alternatives.

Advanced technologies to treat polluted water, as well as recycling water from toilets, kitchen sinks, and sewers for use in homes and industries, will help address future needs. Rodman is quite correct when he says that encouraging people to change their consumption patterns of water and energy by helping them understand the link between the two is equally important. The related issues must receive top priority, avoiding further waste of time.