Level 4 Reading 11A

Reading 11A

SAVING WATER In the Castilla-La Mancha region of Spain, Julio Escudero, a 74-year-old former fisherman, recalls an area on the Guadiana River called Los Ojos—"the eyes." Large underground springs bubbled up into the river, where Escudero and his community fished for carp and crayfish. "I would sit in my boat six or seven meters away and just watch the water coming up," Escudero says. "Now it looks like the moon." Los Ojos doesn't exist anymore—that stretch of the river dried up in 1984. Additionally, 186 square kilometers of surrounding wetlands have disappeared. As farming in the region has increased, La Mancha has witnessed an explosion of well digging in the past 40 years that has lowered the water table and diverted water from rivers. The number of wells has grown from 1,500 in 1960 to an official count of 21,000 today. Some experts say the real number, which includes illegal wells, could surpass 50,000. A Global Problem La Mancha is just one of many places facing water shortages. This century, many countries will face the same dilemma that has confronted the people of Spain: How do you balance human needs with the requirements of natural systems that are vital for sustaining life on Earth? The United Nations recently outlined the extent of the water crisis. Due to water scarcity, 5 billion people will face severe water shortages by 2050 if consumption continues at current rates. Today, lack of access to clean water means that an estimated 2.1 billion people drink water that is unsafe. More than 3 million people die each year from diseases related to unclean water. All over the world, humans are pumping water out of the ground faster than it can be replenished. To address this issue, water conservationists, such as Rajendra Singh in India and Neil Macleod in South Africa, are searching for innovative ways to improve their local water situations.

A Hero in a Thirsty Land On arriving at the Indian village of Goratalai, Rajendra Singh was greeted by a group of about 50 people. He smiled and addressed the villagers: "How many households do you have?" "Eighty." "It's been four years without much rain," said a woman. " And we don't have a proper dam to catch the water." "Do you have any spots where a dam could go?" asked Singh. "Yes, two spots." "I would like to help you," Singh told them, "but the work has to be done by you. You will have to provide one-third of the project through your labor, and the remaining two-thirds I will arrange." The villagers clapped, the women started to sing, and the group hiked to a place in the nearby rocky hills. Singh examined the area and, after a few minutes, declared it an ideal site. His organization would provide the engineering advice and materials; the villagers would supply the work. The nine-meter-high earthen dam—known as a johad— could be finished in three months, before the start of the rainy season. If the rains were plentiful, the dam would not only provide water for drinking and agriculture, but would also replenish dry wells. "You will not see the results immediately. But soon the dam will begin to raise the water level in your wells," Singh told the villagers. In recent years, Singh's johads have sprung up all over Rajasthan— an estimated 4,500 dams in about 1,000 villages, all built using local labor and native materials. His movement has caught on, he says, because it puts control over water in the hands of villagers. "If they feel a johad is their own, they will maintain it," said Singh. "This is a very sustainable, self-reliant system. I can say confidently that if we can manage rain in India in traditional ways, there will be sufficient water for our growing population." Waste Not, Want Not In 1992, Neil Macleod took over as head of Durban Metro Water Services in South Africa. The situation he found was a catastrophe. Durban had one million people living in the city and another 1.5 million people who lived in poverty just outside it. Macleod and his engineers found that the entire city suffered from broken water pipes, leaky toilets, and faulty plumbing, whereby 42 percent of the region's water was simply being wasted. "We inherited 700 reported leaks and bursts. The water literally just ran down the streets. Demand for water was growing 4 percent a year, and we thought we'd have to build another dam by 2000," recalls Macleod. Macleod's crew began repairing and replacing water pipes. They put water meters on homes, replaced eight-liter toilets with four-liter models, and changed wasteful showers and faucets. To ensure that the poor would receive a basic supply of water, Macleod installed tanks in homes to provide 190 liters of water a day free to each household. Water consumption in Durban is now less than it was in 1996, even as 800,000 more people have received service. Through sensible water use, Durban's conservation measures paid for themselves within a year. Macleod says no new dams will be needed in the coming decades, despite the expected addition of about 300,000 inhabitants. In Durban, Macleod has also turned to water recycling. At the water recycling plant, wastewater is turned into clean water in just 12 hours. According to Macleod, most people can't tell the difference between the usual drinking water and the treated wastewater. "Go to many areas of the world, and they're drinking far worse water than this," he says. Some people still hope that new technology, such as the desalination of seawater, will solve the world's water problems. "But the fact is, water conservation is where the big gains are to be made," says Sandra Postel, a leading authority on freshwater issues and director of the Global Water Policy Project. The dedication and resourcefulness of people like Rajendra Singh and Neil Macleod offer inspiration for implementing timely and lasting solutions to the world's water concems.

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