Water Security in South Asia

Asia suffers problems of water scarcity leading to a profound effect on the region’s security. Despite the place being home for almost half the world's population, it has problems with water insecurities amounting to 3,920m3 per year per person. Its population is expected to increase up to 500million in the next 10 years’ time while consistency in rural population is maintained. As a result, the cascade of impacts extends to economic instabilities, large-scale migrations across and within neighboring countries, impaired production of food and a significant increase in geopolitical and economic tensions. A report from the new Asia Society Leadership Group, therefore, recommended a comprehensive policy strategy that will help the state to avert the consequences.

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Water security in South Asia
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Asia suffers problems of water scarcity leading to a profound effect on the region’s
security. Despite the place being home for almost half the world's population, it has problems
with water insecurities amounting to 3,920m3 per year per person. Its population is expected to
increase up to 500million in the next 10 years’ time while consistency in rural population is
maintained. As a result, the cascade of impacts extends to economic instabilities, large-scale
migrations across and within neighboring countries, impaired production of food and a
significant increase in geopolitical and economic tensions. A report from the new Asia Society
Leadership Group, therefore, recommended a comprehensive policy strategy that will help the
state to avert the consequences.
A significant increase in the population is directly proportional to the much tension in the
water resources accompanied by climate change. Based on these, there is much need for water
security approaches to facilitate a reliable amount of water for livelihood, health, and
productions in line with acceptable risks related to water. Problems related to water are directed
to poor governance related to the inability of the state's economy to sustain their current dynamic
of growth. The Asian- Pacific regions experience issues with managing and securing the prime
resources of water. On the other side, the demand for water used in irrigation has contributed to
the extensive water scarcity in the region as per a report from the IIASA water program’s deputy
director, Yoshihide Wada. He also stressed that the rate of depletion of groundwater was
alarming when the current practices of water use never showed sustainability for the future
(Mukherjee, 2018).
The Mekong River passes through Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar
that form the Southeast Asian Nation members and the LMC. The river then drains to the South

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China Sea forming a vast economic resource for the area (Asian Development Bank, 2016). The
basin in the Mekong is among the globes fertile regions thus provides a platform for agriculture
and fishing that fosters livelihood for the settlers (Munia, Guillaume, Mirumachi, Porkka, Wada
& Kummu, 2016). The lower Mekong basin nurtures approximately 60 million individuals hence
control of the waterway will pose significant restrictions to Southeast Asia's economy. However,
conflicts have arisen regarding the ownership of different portions of the water resource that
could act as the biggest china's and Asian's flashpoint after the South China Sea. The
construction of hydropower plants and big dams by the Chinese government led to the
destruction of the river's ecosystem hence posing a big threat to the million's existence (Munia,
Guillaume, Mirumachi, Porkka, Wada & Kummu, 2016).
The change in the natural flow of the river was accompanied by floods, blocks in sediment
transport and drought for downstream societies. These were per the report from Thailand’s
coordinator for environmental pressure group internal rivers, Pianporn Deetes. Studies done by
the (IIASA), Australia-based international institute for applied system analysis, give an
estimation of up to almost 3.4 billion individuals who could be residing in water-stressed regions
by 2050. Most of the countries in the region were also vulnerable to less-freshwater issues by the
same year. These included India, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Singapore clearly showing
the need for water security policies to curb the associated effects.
Agriculture in the regions accounts for up to 80% of the total water consumption in
which it’s increased demands and that of the population at large poses a more precarious state for
the finite water sources. Currently, approximately 1.7 billion are exposed to poor sanitation
conditions thus a daunting issue is meeting the desired demands for energy, industrial and

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domestic water uses while aiming at double production of food by 2050. Also, climate change
impacts, disasters related to water and variations in the climate of the region set a horizon that is
more challenging to handle as per the ADB report (Asian Development Bank, 2016).
Based on risks related to the risk associated with water, a report from ADB showed that
up to 80% of wastewater is discharged in water resources with no or little treatment. In India, 9
percent of the wastewater is treated, Philippines 10%, Vietnam 4 percent and Indonesia 14%
(Wada, Gain, & Giupponi, 2016). Besides these, there exist competitions between the
consumption of water in industries and agriculture hence the transformations towards
industrialization and economic stability means more pressure on the water sources. A proposed
remedy towards this as per the ADB report was the utilization of a combined approach to
improve water productivity. These could be met by a reduced none revenue water in urban cities
and towns, efficiency in water used for agricultural purposes as well as an improvement in the
management of water through harvesting of rainwater. Desalination and reuse could also be
efficient in the Asian context (Asian Development Bank, 2016).
The UN millennium summit aimed at helping nations to achieve sustainable water
security issues through the incorporation of valid policies. This involved the use of water
services that are safely managed, improvement in the sources of water on premises making them
available under need and contamination free (Mukherjee, 2018). The summit also addressed
issues related to gender inequality where in most cases, the burden of water collection was left
on girls and women (Hassan, Afridi, & Khan, 2017). Based on that, water security was to be
improved by exploiting newer sources of water made available to the communities. The water
sources were not made more than 30m away hence making it easy for water collection to be

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done. Treatment of water was emphasized and made available in taps making them safe for
drinking.
The millennium aim also targeted treatment and proper disposal of human waste that
poses a risk of infections to humans just like sewage systems deposited in the water bodies.
Improvement of hygiene involved the use of handwashing facility with water and soap widely
varied on the premises (Hassan, Afridi, & Khan, 2017). Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) concept links different sections of society and depicts the flow of water
use in a quest to manage the level of water consumption. As a result, the approach is made up of
stakeholders and actors who are likely to be the causes of water pollution and victim of impacts
caused by the same.

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References
Asian Development Bank. (2016). Asian Water Development Outlook 2016: Strengthening
Water Security in Asia and the Pacific. Asian Development Bank.
Munia, H., Guillaume, J. H. A., Mirumachi, N., Porkka, M., Wada, Y., & Kummu, M. (2016).
Water stress in global transboundary river basins: significance of upstream water use on
downstream stress. Environmental Research Letters, 11(1), 014002.
Mukherjee, A. (Ed.). (2018). Groundwater of South Asia. Springer.
Hassan, M., Afridi, M. K., & Khan, M. I. (2017). Environmental diplomacy in South Asia:
Considering the environmental security, conflict and development nexus. Geoforum, 82,
127-130.
Wada, Y., Gain, A. K., & Giupponi, C. (2016). Measuring global water security towards
sustainable development goals. Environmental Research Letters, 11(12), 2-13.

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