1. World Water Day
: water for cities
Preksha Bhardwaj
Vivekananda Institute of Technology
Electronics and Communications
II semester

2.  World Water Day is observed on March 22 since 1993 when
the United Nations General Assembly declared March 22 as World
Day for Water.
 The UN and its member nations devote this day to implement UN
recommendations.
 In addition to the UN member states, a number of NGOs are
promoting clean water and sustainable aquatic habitats.

3. Why world water day?
 The UN hopes that the Decade will boost the chances of achieving
international water-related goals .
 For the rapidly urbanizing developing world, safe and affordable water
is key to health and livelihoods, as well as meeting the Millennium
Development Goals.
 This is an unique occasion to bring all the stakeholders together to
apply solutions to that work.

4. WATER FOR CITIES
 Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of the
population increase.
 It is estimated that :
 22% of worldwide water use is industrial.
 69% of worldwide water use is for irrigation.
 8% of world wide water use is for household purposes.
 Management of water resources has become an urgent issue
as urban and peri-urban farmers often apply water from
municipal sewage, mostly in its untreated form, increasing the
risk for illnesses to farmers and consumers.

5. Life depends
on
“water”
depends on
you

6. Water Scarcity in cities
Causes :
 Population growth and urbanization
 Industrialization
 Climate changes
 Conflicts and natural disasters
 Growing urban water and sanitation
demands
 Pollution from municipal and industrial
discharges
 Over exploitation of available resources

7. If you don’t treat
water as dear it
would become dreadrer

8. Population growth and urbanization
 Today, the developed regions have the highest percentage of urban
population. But the 2015 projection shows a reversing trend, with half
the population of the less developed regions living in urban areas.
 According to the Population Division of the United Nations, by
2025 it is foreseen that 75% of the world’s urban population will live in
the less developed countries. In 2020, the urban population in
developing countries is expected to reach 50%.

10. Main water issues related to urban growth
 The major consequence of the urban influx is the growing demand for water and sanitation
services. The gap is continuously widening between the demand for and the supply of these
services.
Over exploitation
 Because of the growing demand, urban authorities have been led to over exploit valuable
sources, leading to water crises .
 For example Mexico city depends on ground water from the Mexico Valley aquifer for 80% of
its water supply .
 The depletion of the aquifer has caused a shifting of the land and the city is now sinking.
Pollution
 The lack of wastewater treatment and drainage facilities, due to the poor maintenance or the
lack of sanitation infrastructure , leads to pollution of the ground-and surface water resources.
 The problem is mainly in coastal areas. The pollution of rivers and seas is at the top of the list
of environmental problems affecting coastal cities.
 For example the city of Lima in Peru discharges 18000 L of waste water /sec into pacific ocean.

12. Health
 Lack of convenient sanitation implies the lack of safe water supply.
 When it rains heavily, storm water washes accumulated human waste, mainly from
informal settlements lacking minimum facilities, into open boreholes and other water
sources used by the poor for drinking water. This results in cholera epidemics, like that
erupted in east Africa in 1997- 98 .
 Faecal-oral diseases, mainly diarrhea , are one of the greatest risks posed by the lack of
adequate water supply and sanitation.
 Children are the first, and the hardest, hit: child mortality rates in cities with proper
sanitation and water supply are generally around 10 per 1,000 live births.
 Diarrheal diseases are still a primary cause of child mortality in the world’s urban
populations.

14. Climate changes
 Water scarcity is expected to become an ever-increasing problem in the future, for various reasons.
 First, the distribution of precipitation in space and time is very uneven, leading to tremendous
temporal variability in water resources worldwide .
 Second, the rate of evaporation varies a great deal, depending on temperature and relative humidity,
which impacts the amount of water available to replenish groundwater supplies.
The hydrological cycle
Key changes to the hydrological cycle (associated with an increased concentration of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere and the resulting changes in climate) include:
 Changes in the seasonal distribution and amount of precipitation.
 An increase in precipitation intensity under most situations.
 Changes in the balance between snow and rain.
 Increased evapotranspiration and a reduction in soil moisture.
 Changes in vegetation cover resulting from changes in temperature and precipitation.
 Consequent changes in management of land resources.
 Accelerated melting glacial ice.
 Increases in fire risk in many areas.
 Increased coastal inundation and wetland loss from sea level rise.
 Effects of CO2 on plant physiology, leading to reduced transpiration and increased water use
efficiency.

16. Changes in precipitation and Drought Patterns
 Projections of changes in total annual precipitation indicate that increases are likely in
the tropics and at high latitudes, while decreases are likely in the sub-tropics, especially
along its pole ward edge. Thus, latitudinal variation is likely to affect the distribution of
water resources.
 With the population of the sub-tropical regions increasing, water resources are likely to
become more stressed in these areas, especially as climate change intensifies.
 More precipitation will increase a region's susceptibility to a variety of factors, including
 Flooding - a region that experiences higher annual precipitation and more runoff
increases the likelihood for flooding.
 Rate of soil erosion
 Mass movement of land
 Soil moisture availability - warming accelerates the rate of surface drying, leaving
less water moving in near-surface layers of soil. Less soil moisture leads to reduced
downward movement of water and so less replenishment of groundwater supplies.

17. Melting glacial ice
• Water supplies can also be affected by warmer winter temperatures that cause a decrease
in the volume of snowpack. The result is diminished water resources during the summer
months.
• Consequently, these areas will become increasingly susceptible to water shortages with
time, because increased temperatures will initially result in a rapid rise in glacial melt
water during the summer months, followed by a decrease in melt as the size of glaciers
continue to shrink.
• This reduction in glacial runoff water is projected to affect approximately one-sixth of the
world's population .

18. Conflicts and natural disasters
Natural disasters too affect the water quality and
quantity as we discussed in above reasons:
 Drought
 Melting of glaciers
 Floods

19. Growing urban water and sanitation demands
 When climate change causes water scarcity, the people who are affected often
move to new areas in search of new supplies.
 When this happens, a water supply that has been used by a smaller group of
people must now support a larger group of people. Eventually, a
new water scarcity problem is created and may induce further migration.
 Hence a growing demand for urban water and sanitation creating water
scarcity.

21.  Target 10 under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is to halve by
2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking
water and basic sanitation.
 The International Development Association (IDA), has been working to
improve access to water and sanitation in the world’s poorest countries and
has seen real progress over the last 15 years.
 In Ghana, the Second Community Water and Sanitation Program (2000-2004)
adopted a community-driven approach to water supply, supporting Ghana’s
decentralization strategy through grants.

22.  The Small Towns Water and Sanitation Project in Uganda (1995-2003)
succeeded in improving water supply services for over 190,000 people in 11
towns and significantly reduced time spent on water collection.
 The Yemen Social Fund for Development (1997-2003) provided basic social
and economic services to almost 10 million people, of which almost 2 million
benefited from access to water supply services. A follow up project (2001-
2006) provided more than 820,000 people with improved environmental
sanitation—for example, working gutters, and efficient rubbish removal.
 In rural areas of Indonesia, 600,000 households and 3,000 schools have
benefited from improved water supply and sanitation services under the
Second Water and Sanitation for Low Income Communities Project (2000-
2010).

23. Plans by
Indian
government

24. National plans by government
 India is endowed with a rich and vast diversity of natural resources,
water being one of them. Its development and management plays a
vital role in agriculture production. Integrated water management is vital
for poverty reduction, environmental sustenance and sustainable
economic development. National Water Policy (2002) envisages that
the water resources of the country should be developed and managed in
an integrated manner.
 Non-conventional methods for utilization of water such as through inter-
basin transfers, artificial recharge of ground water and desalination of
brackish or sea water
 as well as traditional water conservation practices like rainwater
harvesting, including roof-top rainwater harvesting, need to be practiced
to further increase the utilizable water resources.
 Promotion of frontier research and development, in a focused manner,
for these techniques is necessary.

25. At household level we can just try to save water and not wasting it.
“SAVE IT BEFORE YOU NEED IT”
Some useful tips for saving water:
 Disposing waste in bins rather than in water bodies.
 Keep a check on leakages.
 Adjust sprinklers so that only your lawn is watered.
 Wash fruits and vegetables in pan of water .
 Use broom instead of hose to clean your driveway.
 When cleaning your fish tank give the nutrient rich water to your plants.
 Collect water from your roof to water your plants.
The list is endless . You can save 1000 gallons of water everyday just by following
small -small tips.
but

26.  The important one is :
RE-duce , RE- use , RE-cycle
water is life

27. Harvest rain water Don’t waste water .Try to
save it
Eliminate bottled water Stop the trickle

28. As an individual I am really zealed to do my
bit :
“Tap the tap” while brushing and washing.
 Don’t let the washed water drain .
 Four minute shower ,and not a quarter hour.
 By encouraging youth through posters , plays ,
etc.