Citation
(2010), "Feature", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 21 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/meq.2010.08321aaf.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Feature
Article Type: Feature From: Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Volume 21, Issue 1
A new World Water Week (WWF) report concludes that the practice of transferring large volumes of water from one river basin to another, whatever the reason, needs to be more carefully controlled, and suggests a number of less damaging alternatives. WWF's analysis, launched for WWW, reveals that large-scale transfers of water from one river basin to another are often carried out without adequate scrutiny of their economic, environmental and social impacts.
The report looks at existing and proposed water transfer schemes in Spain, Australia, Lesotho and South Africa, Greece, Brazil, Peru and China, and finds them to be high-cost, high-risk solutions to water problems, often providing far fewer benefits than promised. There have been problems with many of the 360 schemes implemented since 1950. The report finds that in many cases there was little examination of alternatives to these massive schemes, particularly options for managing demand and promoting efficient water use in typically water-scarce regions. One of the best alternatives to moving water around is to trade in “virtual water”. As the water is often used for growing food, Dave Tickner explains:
[…] it makes more sense to grow extra food in wetter areas and import that as “virtual water”, rather than import the water itself to grow food in a drier area […] but such non-technical solutions – trading in virtual water, less water-intensive farming or more water-efficient industries and cities – tend to be neglected in planning decisions.
The WWF suggests that alternative options should be considered in the following order: first, reducing water demand; second, recycling waste water; third, better land use management or industrial development alternatives; fourth, trading in “virtual” water; and only then think about supplementing water supplies locally or desalination in water-scarce coastal areas. A water transfer should be considered only as a last option. The full report can be seen at: www.wwf.org.uk/news_feed.cfm?3263/Move-virtual-water-not-river-water.