Investing Sustainably in Clean Water
More than 60 percent of all people worldwide do not have sustainable sanitary facilities, and almost 30 percent have only limited access to clean water. "Ensuring sustainable water management and access to clean water and good sanitation for all" therefore is not coincidentally one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. It is also a promising investment goal.
Background: Critical water supply
Currently, almost 30 percent of the world's population does not have simple and affordable access to clean water in their homes. More than 60 percent do not have sustainable sanitary facilities. This is referred to as "water stress" - from which more and more people are likely to suffer in the future. The reason is that population growth, urbanization, rising living standards, climate change and increased food and raw material production mean that by 2030, more than two-thirds of all people will be affected by water-related problems at some point in their lives.
Considering these facts, saving water is an undeniably important goal. In order to identify potential savings, the concept of a water footprint, which is analogous to the CO2 footprint, is helpful. It describes how much water is used to produce certain goods or perform certain services. For example, a pair of jeans accounts for 8,000 liters of water consumption, a kilo of cheese for 5,000 liters and a cup of coffee for 132 liters. [1].
The water footprint can also be measured for each individual, for cities or entire countries. Finally, the concept of "virtual water" makes it possible to describe the relationship within trading between water-intensive goods and water-stressed countries and regions. For example, according to estimates, half of the UK's water footprint is attributable to goods imported from water-stressed countries - the country's virtual water consumption is correspondingly high.
[1] https://waterfootprint.org/en/...
Promoting sustainable water management
"Sustainable water management" thus means that water is extracted, treated and used in such a way that it remains a recyclable resource and its quality does not deteriorate in the process. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that individual households as well as industry and agriculture can be supplied with a sufficient amount of water. This means that so-called water stress as well as water footprint and virtual water consumption need to be reduced.