Redirecting a River is Only Pushing The Problem to Another Day
The worldwide demand for water is distinctly on the rise. By 2030, the world will need 40% more water than it can produce. This is an incredibly serious problem: Even now, 2.7 billion people are experiencing water scarcity and 1.4 billion of those live in areas that are running out of water . This will only rise in the coming years, and it is vitally important that steps are taken to mitigate the potential suffering.
The UN estimates that water scarcity will end up costing governments up to $200 billion per year . Furthermore, these costs will predominantly impact poorer countries whose budgets are already incredibly stretched. As 2030 rapidly approaches, countries must tackle this problem now, before it becomes a unrelenting international crisis.
As water starts to run out, it is highly likely that hostilities will begin to break out as the threat to nation states intensifies. This will impact all of us, no matter where we are in the world. In fact, the fight for water has already begun. Whether it’s on a diplomatic, trade, or resource level, conflict surrounding water is not a problem just for the future – it is a problem now.
Conflict can arise from a wide range of factors. For example, one way of reliably securing water is to build dams and control the waterflow of a river. However, this takes water away from other populations further downstream. Naturally, this causes tensions to rise, as we have seen in recent disputes between China and India , as it attempts to control river flows.
Similarly, while Turkey attempts to secure its water supply by building dams, such as the Ilisu Dam, water levels of three other countries are disrupted in the process. Syria, Iraq, and Iran have all faced supply problems due to the impact of the dam on the quality and quantity of flow from the Tigris River. The Governments of Iraq and Iran have vocally opposed the Ilisu Dam, with Iraqi officials publicly noting that Turkish dams along tributaries have halved water flow to Iraq compared to levels seen 20 years ago . Moreover, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian described Turkish hydrology projects as ‘extremely damaging to the people of Iran’ .These are the kind of conflicts that will become all too common if countries do not begin to act now.
Yet, while countries are instigating conflicts and moving the problem on to neighbouring nations, many of them struggle with polluted water internally and do not address this issue. If it was taking a different course, China could clean as much as 60% of their polluted water . Similarly, Turkey has many examples of water pollution within their water system . If nation states focussed on solving problems with their internal water systems, they may well be less likely to rely on measures that disrupt neighbouring entities. This has the potential to drastically reduce water supply based conflict.
Crucially, both of these countries have a large textile industry that contributes significantly to their problems with water pollution. For example, a study has found that there is a rising tendency to use natural water bodies to discharge wastewater in Turkey . In 2016, 57% of wastewater from the textile industry was released into natural ecosystems. Without addressing these problems, the world will rapidly run out of clean water.
In fact, the EU estimates that the textile industry is responsible for 20% of global clean water pollution , the majority of which comes from the dyeing and finishing of products. In 2015, it was estimated that the textile industry used 79 billion cubic metres of water . With new ultra-fast fashion brands such as Shein on the rise , this is likely to increase in the coming years.
The most important thing to note in this situation is that conflicts around water are not a necessary evil. Countries that need clean water already have large water supplies that could be cleaned. Nudging textile factories to become cleaner is one of the first steps necessary to secure water for their populations. All it takes is changes in policies, demanding that sectors such as the textile industry take care of the water they use. This would not only save countries from the cost of building dams and redirecting rivers, but also the significant toll of conflict. The important question, however, is whether this solution is implementable.
The United Nations has said that in their view, only one option is viable: holistic water management plans . This is exactly the type of solution offered by Waste2Fresh. As it stands, the textile industry uses 93 billion cubic metres of water a year . This means, by current standards, over a 10-year period, the industry will use 930 billion cubic metres of water. This must be addressed. With funding support from the EU, Waste2Fresh has created an innovative solution. Waste2Fresh’s closed-loop process ensures that the textile industry is able to recycle a massive amount of water used in its production processes. This makes it a vital piece of sustainable innovation in the battle to secure global water supplies. With more clean water available in water systems, countries would be much less likely to engage in more disruptive water diversion processes, and therefore avoid points of international conflict.