Developing Asian nations face water crisis – ADB

SINGAPORE (AP) - Developing Asian countries will face an unprecedented water crisis in as little as a decade if they are unable to better manage their supplies of the precious resource, a team of water experts reported yesterday.

A study commissioned by the Manila-based Asian Development Bank said policymakers in many developing nations have so far paid insufficient attention to the way they supply water, manage wastewater and fight water pollution.

“If the present unsatisfactory trends continue, in one or two decades, Asian developing countries are likely to face a crisis on water quality management that is unprecedented in human history,” wrote Prof. Asit K. Biswas, who led the international group of water specialists in preparing the report released in Singapore.

One contributing factor to wastewater management problems is massive and rapid urbanization, such as that seen in megacities like Dhaka, Bangladesh; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Karachi, Pakistan, the report said.

Wastewater collected from cities is often discharged to nearby rivers, lakes or oceans with little or no treatment, which heavily contaminates water bodies around urban centers and is already causing health and environmental problems.

“By diluting seriously the definition of access to clean water and considering sanitation only in a very restricted sense, developing countries, including many in Asia, are mortgaging their future in terms of water security,” wrote Biswas, who heads the Mexico City-based Third World Centre for Water Management.