The rich consume too much water and inequality makes the water crisis worse

We already knew it, we hear it continually repeated by the experts, and now we have yet another study at our disposal that demonstrates it through very clear numbers, with which we just have to deal with. We speak of the iniquitous use of water resourcesespecially when these threaten to become scarce, as we fear could happen in our country in the coming months and as has happened in the past in at least 80 major cities including London, Miami, Moscow, Istanbul, Beijing, Romewho have had to face serious moments in the last twenty years water shortage. To explore this very topical theme is a study published on Nature Sustainabilityconducted by a group of researchers from‘Uppsala University (Sweden), of the‘university of amsterdam (Netherlands) and of‘University of Manchester (United Kingdom).

The research group focused mainly on Cape Town, in South Africa, where an urban water crisis can mean running out of tap water, especially for those already living in difficult conditions. And the solution, according to the researchers, is not so much to be found in optimizing water supply infrastructures, but in reducing waste and in a more equitable distribution of this precious resource, the use of which is constantly increasing. According to the United Nations 2023 report, globally over the last 40 years there has been an increase of 1% per year in water use, and if we continue at this rate, in 2050 we could find ourselves achieving an overall increase of 20-30%: a trend due to a combination of various factors, including the increase in world population and a profound change in the way we consume this resource, also as a consequence of global socio-economic development.

“The climate change and thedemographic increase – explains Hannah Clokeco-author of the study – imply that water is becoming an increasingly precious resource in big cities, but we have shown that it is social inequality that is the main problem for the poorest people and their access to water to meet daily needs”. The research group, we said, has developed a model to study in particular thedomestic use of water by Cape Town residents. It emerged that the low-income familieswhich constitute the 62% of the population, consume only the 27% of the water used globally in the city, while those upper-middle income they use the 51%while representing less than 14% of the total population. Cape Town, write the authors, is just one example of how theunfair use of water may impact water supply crises in urban areas.

The data

With the water emergency at risk, 18% of GDP

March 22, 2023

“Our results – reads the conclusion of the article – show that urban water crises can be triggered by unsustainable consumption patterns by privileged social groups”. The technological development and theobtaining increasingly efficient infrastructurestogether with the progressive rising cost of water to discourage its waste, they conclude, they are not sufficient measures to manage the crises expected in the future“as they expand the water footprint of cities and at the same time perpetuate unequal levels of consumption”.