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Glacier preservation needed to face devastating water crisis

Published : Sunday, 23 March, 2025 at 12:00 AM  Count : 500
MS Siddiqui
PART 1
Water is a rights issue with the recognition in July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of the human right to water and sanitation. The Assembly recognized the right of every human being to have access to enough water for personal and domestic uses, meaning between 50 and 100 litres of water per person per day. The water must be safe, acceptable and affordable. The water costs should not exceed 3 per cent of household income. Moreover, the water source must be within 1,000 metres of the home and collection time should not exceed 30 minutes.

Water means a lot to human more than just quenching our thirst, but it plays the role of a vital component of human development.According to Mitchell and others (1945), the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%.
Each day humans must consume a certain amount of water to survive. Of course, this varies according to age and gender. Generally, an adult male needs about 3 liters (3.2 quarts) per day while an adult female needs about 2.2 liters (2.3 quarts) per day. All of the water a person needs does not have to come from drinking liquids, as some of this water is contained in the food we eat.

Water serves several essential functions to keep us all going. It is a vital nutrient to the life of every cell and acts first as a building material.It regulates our internal body temperature by sweating and respiration. The carbohydrates and proteins that our bodies use as food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream. Water assists in flushing waste mainly through urination. Water acts as a shock absorber for the brain, spinal cord, and fetus, forms saliva and lubricates joints.

Our planet is over 70% water, only about 2.5% of it is freshwater, and less than 1% is directly accessible for human use. Rapid population growth, climate change, and pollution are placing a significant strain on this precious resource.

Some 1 million people are estimated to die each year from diarrhoeaas a result of unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hand hygiene. Better water, sanitation, and hygiene could prevent the some 400,000 deaths a year from diarrhoeal diseases among children aged under 5 years. (WHO/UNICEF 2023).

The crisis of contaminated water and a lack of basic sanitation are undermining efforts to end extreme poverty and disease in the world's poorest countries. Unclean water and poor sanitation are a leading cause of child mortality. Childhood diarrhoea is closely associated with insufficient water supply, inadequate sanitation, water contaminated with communicable disease agents, and poor hygiene practices. Diarrhoea is estimated to cause 1.5 million child deaths per year, mostly among children under five living in developing countries.

About 90 per cent of natural disasters are weather-related, including floods and droughts. (UNISDR). 80 per cent of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused (UN Water, 2018). Around two-thirds of the world's transboundary rivers do not have a cooperative management framework. (SIWI). Agriculture accounts for 70 per cent of global water withdrawal (FAO).

Safe and readily available water is important for public health, whether it is used for drinking, domestic use, food production or recreational purposes. Improved water supply and sanitation, and better management of water resources, can boost countries' economic growth and can contribute greatly to poverty reduction.

As the global population grows, there is an increasing need to balance all the competing commercial demands on water resources, so that communities have enough for their needs.

Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio-economic development, energy and food production, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. Water is also at the heart of adaptation to climate change, serving as the crucial link between society and the environment.

At the human level, water cannot be seen in isolation from sanitation. Together, they are vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, education and economic productivity of populations.

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) -target 6 is to "Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all". Water is crucial in determining whether the world will achieve the SDGs.The targets cover all aspects of both the water cycle and sanitation systems, and their achievement is designed to contribute to progress across a range of other SDGs, most notably on health, education, economics and the environment.

In many parts of the world, drinking water supplies are not clean but are polluted and are constantly dangerous. Many deadly diseases are transmitted due to contaminated water that is consumed for lack of a better water source. Other problems include: a simple lack of water, water is present but not affordable, excessive water waste, and destruction of aquatic habitats.

Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio. Absent, inadequate, or inappropriately managed water and sanitation services expose individuals to preventable health risks.

In many parts of the world, insects that live or breed in water carry and transmit diseases such as dengue fever. Some of these insects, known as vectors, breed in clean, rather than dirty water, and household drinking water containers can serve as breeding grounds. The simple intervention of covering water storage containers can reduce vector breeding and may also reduce faucal contamination of water at the household level.

Inadequate management of urban, industrial and agricultural wastewater means the drinking-water of hundreds of millions of people is dangerously contaminated or chemically polluted. The natural presence of chemicals, particularly in groundwater, can also be of health significance, including arsenic and fluoride, while other chemicals, such as lead, may be elevated in drinking-water as a result of leaching from water supply components in contact with drinking-water.

Bangladesh is the 7th most vulnerable country to climate impact. Frequent floods, cyclones, tidal surges etc. affects freshwater supplies with deeply entrenched saline intrusion in coastal communities - leading to negative health and economic outcomes.

It is facing a complex water crisis, with 98% of the population having access to basic water services, but only 59% having access to safely managed water and 40% lacking access to safe drinking water. There is a vast difference between coverage and quality of water available. The challenges include arsenic contamination, salinity intrusion, and water scarcity, particularly in coastal and urban areas.

Climate and its impact on water isn't exclusive to the coastal regions of Bangladesh. In the hilly north-eastern Bangladesh, climate events damage soil, affecting agricultural productivity.

The groundwater, which is used by nearly 90% of the population, is also contaminated with arsenic. According to the WHO, the levels of arsenic have contributed to the largest mass poisoning in history, affecting an estimated 30-35 million people in Bangladesh. Exposure to arsenic can cause cancer and severely damage many integral systems in the human body.

The great rivers of Bangladesh namely Brahmaputra, Meghna, and Ganges are all originate in other countries. Only 7% of the total land that creates the watersheds for these rivers is in Bangladesh. Therefore, the nation has very little control over how much water they receive from these sources. The amount of water that eventually gets to Bangladesh is greatly limited by the unilateral withdrawal of the upper riparian countries.

(To be continued)

The writer is a former Non-Government Adviser, Bangladesh Competition Commission, Legal Economist & CEO, Bangla Chemical


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