RIO, GPS

Like Crude Oil in the 20th Century, Water could be the essential commodity on which the 21st Century will turn.

Human beings depend on access to water, and have done since the beginning of civilization, but with 7-B people now on the Planet as of October 31, expanding urbanization and development are driving demand like never before.

Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last Century, said Kirsty Jenkinson of the World Resources Institute, a Washington think tank.

Water use is predicted to increase by 50% between Y’s 2007 and 2025 in developing countries and 18% in developed ones, with much of the increased use in the poorest countries with more and more people moving from rural areas to cities, Ms. Jenkinson said in an interview.

Factor in the expected impacts of climate change this century, more severe floods, droughts and shifts from past precipitation patterns, that are likely to hit the poorest people 1stand worst “and we have a significant challenge on our hands,” Ms. Jenkinson said.

Will there be enough water for everyone, especially if population continues to rise, as predicted, to 9-B by mid-Century is the Big Q.

“There’s a lot of water on Earth, so we probably will not run out,” said Rob Renner, executive director of the Colorado-based Water Research Foundation.

“The problem is that 97.5% of it is salty and of the 2.5% that’s fresh, 67% of that is frozen. So there is not a lot of fresh water to deal with in the World.”

Only 8% of the Planet’s fresh water supply goes to domestic use and about 70% is used for irrigation and 22% in industry, Ms. Jenkinson said.

Droughts and insufficient rainfall contribute to what is known as “Water Risk”, along with floods and contamination.

The Hot Spots of Water Risk, as reported in the World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct’s online Atlas, include:

1. Australia’s Murray-Darling basin;

2. the Colorado River basin in the US Southwest;

3. the Orange-Senqu basin, covering parts of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia and all of Lesotho, and

4. the Yangtze and Yellow river basins in China.

What is required, Ms. Jenkinson said, is integrated water resource management that takes into account who needs what kind of water, as well as where and how to use it most efficiently.

“Water is going to quickly become a limiting factor in our lifetimes,” said Ralph Eberts, executive vice president of Black & Veatch, a US$2.3-B engineering business that designs water systems and operates in more than 100 countries.

He said he sees a “reprioritization” of resources to address the water challenges posed by changing climate and growing urbanization.

Mr. Eberts’ company is not alone. Water scarcity and water stress which occurs when demand for water exceeds supply or when poor quality restricts use, has already hit water-intensive companies and supply chains in Russia, China and across the Southern United States.

At the same time, extreme floods have had severe economic impacts in Australia, Pakistan and the US Midwest, according to Ceres, a coalition of large investors and environmental groups that targeted “Water Risk as an issue that 21st Century businesses will need to address.

“The centrality of fresh water to our needs for food, for fuel, for fiber is taking center stage in what has become a crowded, environmentally stressed world,” said Ceres President Mindy Lubber.

A Ceres database lets institutional investors know which companies are tackling water risk. Nestle and Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) are seen as leading the way.

Water Risk is already affecting business at apparel maker The Gap (NYSE:GPS), which cut its profit forecast by 22% after drought cut into the Cotton crop in Texas.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr. writes and publishes The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report on the US Major Market Indices, a weekly, highly-regarded financial market letter, read by opinion makers, business leaders and organizations around the world.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr has studied the global financial and stock markets since 1984, following a successful business career that included investment banking, and market and business analysis. He is a specialist in equities/commodities, and an accomplished chart reader who advises technicians with regard to Major Indices Resistance/Support Levels.

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Posted by Shayne Heffernan on Oct 28th, 2011and filed underLatest News, Limelight, Oil, Paul Ebeling, USA.You can follow any responses to this entry through theRSS 2.0Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.