Clean water is a big challenge for Asia

Population explosion, poor resource management, flood and drought are turning clean water into luxury for hundreds of millions of Asians.

A boy living in the slums of Calcutta city lined up to get clean water for his family.Photo: AFP.

Officials from many Asian countries are attending the World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey. They acknowledge that they are facing a major challenge in meeting the clean water needs of the people. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said, with the world's largest population, the country has long regarded it as a precious resource. According to him, the scarcity of clean water could increase social unrest.

According to a report published in the conference, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for 61% of the world's population, but the water resources for this region are only equivalent to one-third of the total water resources globally. About half a billion people here do not have access to safe water and 1.8 billion people do not live in standard sanitation.

Agricultural activity also removes 79% of the region's recycled water. In some food areas of Asia, like Punjab state of India and the northern plains of China, the situation of excessive exploitation of groundwater causes the water level to drop 2 to 3 meters per year. Meanwhile, groundwater levels in frozen areas of the Himalayas are decreasing at the fastest speed on the planet.

The report argues that all of the above situations lead to a dark perspective on cultivation, food security, clean water supply and wastewater treatment. 'In the worst case scenario, the scarcity of clean water will cause catastrophes and people will face the misery in their daily lives, ' the warning report.

Ramesh Chandra Sen, Minister of Water Resources of Bangladesh, said his country is facing 'difficult challenges to overcome' due to lack of clean water. 'Every year, the abundance of water in the rainy season causes natural disasters such as floods and landslides. But in the dry season, water scarcity causes drought, saltwater intrusion from the sea deep into the mainland and many other problems. In addition, arsenic-contaminated groundwater also causes a myriad of diseases for people , 'he said.

Health experts believe that about 70 million people in India and Bangladesh must use water with arsenic and fluorine content higher than allowed. Some scientists describe this fact as 'the largest collective poisoning case in human history'.

Minister of Indonesia's Public Services, Mr. Djoko Kirmanto, said that many countries in Southeast Asia have begun to suffer the effects of climate change - such as rainfall and declining food production. 'In recent years, water-related natural disasters such as floods, droughts, tsunamis, storms and landslides appear with a higher frequency than previous decades , ' Kirmanto said.

The ministers outlined the national water program, which set out specific strategies to conserve and manage water resources. They also pledged to use the regional forum to resolve water-related disagreements.