Asia is about to face the water crisis

The momentum of Asia's economic development could be drastically reduced by future water shortages, a top Asian Development Bank official (ADB) warned.

People lined up waiting for water trucks in Bangladesh.Photo: redskynews.com.

AFP said, Arjun Thapan, ADB's special adviser on water and infrastructure, warned governments to start better managing water resources now so that the shortage of water does not become worse than.

'We believe that Asia is about to face a water shortage crisis and the situation is gradually becoming serious over time,' Thapan said on the sidelines of a conference on water and urban planning in Singapore yesterday.

Thais think that water resources in Asia will only meet 60% of people's needs by 2030. In the context that 80% of Asia's water is used for irrigation of agricultural land, water shortages will cause should have serious consequences for the ability to produce food. About 10 to 15% of water is used for industrial activities.

'If countries do not significantly improve the efficiency of water use in both agriculture and industry, Asia will not be able to bridge the gap between supply and demand in 2030' , Thapan warned.

According to Thais, to increase the efficiency of water use, the government should impose taxes on the amount of water that people use. 'We should not continue to consider water as a free and endless resource. In fact, water is a finite resource, ' he said.

Another problem is that much of Asia's untreated water makes many large water sources - such as rivers and lakes - heavily polluted.

Of the 412 rivers in the Philippines, there are 50 rivers without life. The effort to clean up Manila and Pasig rivers alone makes Filipino officials spend between $ 2 and $ 2.5 billion annually.