Innovation 'must consider water, energy and land jointly'

More technological innovation is needed to fight growing resource scarcity, but it will only be successful in achieving sustainable developmentif it considers the use of water, energy and land as interdependent issues, according to a European report.

Investment in innovation is required for sustainable agriculture, for achieving more efficient use of water and energy, and for rolling out renewable energy technologies, says the 'European Report on Development 2011–2012', funded by the European Commission and seven European states.

But failure to consider the three basic resources of water, energy and land as a 'nexus' — in which the use of one affects the availability of the other two — is leading to poor decisions that ultimately work against sustainable development, it says.

"We can no longer think about solving [resource] issues by tackling one problem at a time," said James Mackie, of the European Centre for Development Policy Management, which produced the report along with the UK's Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the German Development Institute.

The third in an annual series, the report, subtitled 'Confronting Scarcity', combines two strands of emerging thought.

The first is that of absolute resource scarcity. Demand for energy and water is set to increase by 40 per cent in the next two decades, and demand for food — which will in turn be one of the factors increasing land demand — by 50 per cent. But there is not enough of these resources to meet the demand unless their management is transformed.

The second is that of the interconnectedness of resources, a phenomenon the authors believe is largely ignored in setting policy.

"This issue is becoming more acute because of the absolute shortages coming into play," Mackie told SciDev.Net.

"While much has been written about managing water, energy and land (WEL), few initiatives focus directly on the resource nexus," said the authors, who have been promoting the idea to national delegations to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) taking place in Brazil next month (20–22 June).

The report cites an example in Bangladesh where open pit coal mining is cheap, but harms the environment and uses up land, whilst closed pit mining is more expensive, but requires less land and is environmentally friendly.

"A WEL nexus approach is more likely to choose the latter option," lead author Dirk Willem te Velde, of the ODI, told SciDev.Net.

Decisions about renewable energy technologies could also be influenced by this approach, the authors said, pointing out that "the average biomass energy source requires 70 times the water footprint of oil".

Such thinking should also be invoked in rolling out the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon's initiative, Sustainable Energy for All, which aims to improve access to energy and the use of renewables.

The report's authors also call for institutions that govern access to land, water or energy, at local, national and regional levels, to be established, "or radically reformed", to take into account the WEL nexus.

They say that the European Union needs to improve the coherence of its policies for the developing world so that it considers scarcity on all three fronts.

Aisling Irwin

scidev.net

World Water Day 22 March 2012

 

http://www.fao.org/nr/water/ 

http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/ 

http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/downloads/WWD2012_BROCHURE_EN.pdf 

Developing solutions for sustainable water management

This policy brief, published by the International Project Office of the Global Water System Project and produced to inform the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), outlines how scientists and policymakers can advance water security by focusing on interdisciplinary research, and ensuring that all stakeholders are involved in developing sustainable solutions to water problems.

Rio+20 is an opportunity to strengthen commitment to integrated and sustainable management of water resources, which are coming under increasing pressure, say the authors. Water stress is a reality in many parts of the world and human activities are changing the global water system without adequate knowledge of the consequences.

Scientists can offer knowledge, information and technical tools. But this is only part of the solution: governments must set up frameworks for better water management, and many other stakeholders — including decision makers, managers and technical personnel — must be involved to foster commitment and facilitate conflict resolution. 

As water crosses natural and political boundaries, governments must consider the water needs of all sectors. Better information will help to evaluate needs and prioritise water allocations between them. But the unavoidable compromises and trade-offs should be assessed based on scientific evidence — not influenced by lobbying and pressure groups.

Water management should be integral to climate change adaptation, and vice versa. 


To ensure water use stays within the planet's natural limits, interdisciplinary science should be complemented by ethical water governance and management practices. 

Research shows that good governance depends on having multiple centres of control, effective legal frameworks, reduced inequalities, free access to information and meaningful participation by stakeholders. In turn, good governance can help attract needed funds for clean water and sanitation.

The future should be seen through a water 'lens', say the authors. They conclude that, in order to develop solutions for sustainable water management, it is important to go beyond technical solutions to understand the complexities of the global water system — including the social and political dynamics, as well as human behaviours related to water use. This is a huge challenge, say the authors, but it is the only way forward.

This policy brief was compiled by the International Project Office of the Global Water System Project based in Bonn, Germany. It was commissioned by the international conference Planet Under Pressure: New Knowledge Towards Solutions.

Link to full article in Planet Under Pressure

Fuente: UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)
SciDev

Natural sediment may shield groundwater from arsenic

Contamination of deep groundwater with arsenic from shallower sources may not be as serious as feared — if pumping deep water is limited to domestic use, a study has found.

Exposure to arsenic-contaminated groundwater has been linked to almost one in every five deaths in Bangladesh, and some 100,000 deep wells have been constructed to pump deeper, cleaner water. 

Recent modelling studies have suggested that these cleaner water sources are also being contaminated — from shallower water seeping down to replenish deeper wells.

But a study published in Nature Geoscience yesterday (9 October) found that natural adsorption of arsenic by sediment — sand in the aquifers — reduces contamination risk in most areas.

"Deep groundwater in Bangladesh is at risk from contamination by arsenic from shallow groundwater seeping downwards if not carefully managed," Yan Zheng, who co-authored the study while she was a senior scientist at Columbia University, United States, told SciDev.Net. 

"The risk is higher if deep groundwater is used for irrigation, which consumes a lot more water than [use for] domestic purposes."

Modelling studies have suggested that the contamination of deep groundwater results from shallower water seeping down to replenish pumped deep water. 

But these studies did not consider the influence of sediment, which can adsorb arsenic, Zheng and her team say.

They  tested this adsorption in the field in Bangladesh, and used their results to estimate the vulnerability of deep groundwater to arsenic pollution from shallower water seeping down.

They found that sediment removes around 70 per cent of arsenic within a day, reducing the risk of contamination of deep groundwater in most, but not all areas; and more so when the water is pumped for domestic use only, rather than irrigation. 

This suggests that current contamination of deep wells is either natural or comes from individual cases of badly designed wells that allow more seepage, Zheng said.

She added that the recommendation for the policymakers "is not to use deep groundwater for irrigation", and to regularly and systematically monitor water quality in the areas identified as more vulnerable to contamination.

Zheng also said that the agricultural sector should urgently look for sources of surface water to use for irrigation instead of groundwater.

Wais Kabir, executive chair of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, agreed that irrigation leads to higher risk of arsenic contamination of groundwater and said that Bangladesh needs to "change its food habits" and produce crops that need less irrigation.

S M Ihtishamul Huq, the Department of Public Health Engineering's superintendent engineer, told SciDev.Net: "We have to be more cautious while using groundwater for irrigation where the presence of arsenic is much higher."

He suggested changing crop patterns to reduce dependency on groundwater for irrigation. 

For example, he said: "We cultivate paddy during the winter using the groundwater irrigation. If we instead produce wheat [in] that period we do not need to irrigate much."

Link to full paper in Nature Geoscience

Syful Islam
SciDev

Plastic bottles could clean arsenic-contaminated water

Chopped up plastic bottles covered in a common chemical may be a simple and inexpensive method for removing arsenic from drinking water.

A team of chemists at Monmouth University, United States, found that bits of plastic coated with cysteine, a common molecule found in foods, bind to arsenic.

http://pampawater.blogspot.com/p/plastic-bottles-could-clean-arsenic.html

El misterio del agua más antigua del planeta fascina a los científicos

foto E. Villar

Si cotizase en los mercados internacionales sería oro incoloro. Pero no es más que agua. ¿Sólo?

La odisea en busca del agua virgen más vieja del mundo está a punto de llegar a su fin. Si esconde formas de vida, como sospechan los científicos, será uno de los hallazgos más importantes de la historia.

.

Está considerada el agua más pura y antigua del planeta.

Agua virgen, sin más. Duerme el sueño de los justos en el lago antártico Vostok, en el este del continente blanco (77º grados sur, 105º este) sepultada bajo un muro de 3.748 metros de hielo.

Un grupo de científicos rusos acaba de anunciar que se encuentran a sólo unos pocos metros de llegar hasta ella.

El misterio a un trabajo de años está a punto de desvelarse.

Del tamaño del lago Baikal, el Vostok es una enorme balsa de agua subglacial, lo que le ha permitido permanecer aislada de cualquier “contaminación” exterior y de la atmósfera.

Sus 5.400 km3 de agua dulce han permanecido inalterados durante cerca de 1 millón de años, una magnitud de ciencia ficción comparada con la de cualquier otro lago de superficie, que se renueva continuamente.

¿Por qué es tan importante llegar hasta allí? Hace doce años,científicos rusos, estadounidenses y franceses extrajeron un núcleo de hielo a 3.623 m., a 120 metros del lago, y al analizar las muestras encontraron evidencias de vida en forma de microbios.

Como el lago está dividido en dos, podría haber dos tipos de ecosistemas totalmente distintos que han evolucionado al margen de la superficie.

El lago se formó hace unos 15 millones de años, debido a unos movimientos sísmicos cuando la Antártida se separó definitivamente de América del Sur.

El lecho del lago empezó a almacenar hielo hasta alcanzar los 4 kilómetros.

Lo que los expertos no se explican es por qué el agua se mantiene líquida en esa gigantesca cápsula precisamente en el lugar más frío de la Tierra (-61 grados de media, con unos cálidos veranos australes de 37 bajo cero y un récord de -89,2ºC, registrado el 21 de julio de 1983).

Ya sea por la proximidad al centro de la Tierra o porque el hielo superior aísla de las bajas temperaturas de la superficie (dos de las teorías barajadas), lo cierto es que el agua no se ha derretido en ese punto, y conserva un concentración de oxígeno 50 veces superior a la superficie, lo que dificulta las formas de vida.

Sin embargo, el hallazgo de esas evidencias de vida ha abierto la puerta a todo tipo de teorías, entre ellas la de que se trate de existencias que han desarrollado su capacidad de adaptarse a esas condiciones extremas, totalmente al margen de la vida tal y como la conocemos.

Hay quien sostiene que quizás fue la propia perforadora la que introdujo esos microbios, pese a que se adoptaron todas las precauciones para no contaminar esta cápsula del tiempo.

Las pruebas del agua que ahora se obtengan se enviarán al laboratorio del Instituto de Investigaciones Árticas y Antárticas de San Petersburgo para su análisis.

Con mucho miedo aún, Alexandr Frolov, director del Instituto Meteorológico de Rusia (IMR), ha asegurado estos días que tienen “gran confianza” en que conseguirán atravesar la barrera, pese a que allí la capa de hielo virgen “es realmente difícil de perforar”.

El trabajo es tan lento, tan laborioso, que esos pocos metros no se alcanzarán hasta el próximo mes de enero, siempre y cuando no haya imprevistos de última hora.

Nada comparado con un lago de un millón de años.

larazon.es

Medicamentos: ¿una bomba de tiempo en las aguas?

¿Qué pasaría si millones de seres humanos enfermaran de gripe en un país?

Ningún problema.

Todos podrían tomar un medicamento.
Por ejemplo Tamiflu.

Pero el remedio no quedaría en su cuerpo, sino que gran de parte de él sería eliminada de forma natural y pasaría a las aguas.

Éstas son tratadas, pero, no obstante, una buena parte de la sustancia llegaría igualmente a los ríos.

Lo suficiente como para que la mayoría de las aves que beban esa agua no enfermen de gripe.
La mayoría.

Y ése es el problema.

Las que sí enfermen habrían desarrollado en sus cuerpos virus resistentes al Tamiflu:
la siguiente epidemia de gripe sería mortal, también para el ser humano.

El problema es ignorado hasta ahora por la industria farmacéutica.

Ya sean analgésicos, antibióticos o antidepresivos, los medicamentos aparecen en las aguas en creciente concentración, amenazando la salud de peces, algas y otros seres vivos, informa la revista alemana científica ZEIT Wissen en su última edición.

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