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p. 5 of 57 BACK | NEXT I. The Changing Environment Economic Transformation State of the Environment in the Region Land and Forests Water Resources Air Quality Urban Population Counting the Toll Looking Ahead II. Driving Forces of Change III. Options and Opportunities IV. Toward Policy Integration V. Call to Action

Asian Environment Outlook 2001 : I. The Changing Environment : State of the Environment in the Region

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Water Resources

Under current development conditions, safe supplies of freshwater are at risk in many countries of the region. The explosive growth in populations and economies has had the greatest impact on the region’s freshwater resources (see Box 1-2). Freshwater withdrawals increased more in Asia during the past century than in any other part of the world, and these withdrawals have resulted in supply and water quality problems. Lack of an adequate supply of clean water is the most severe environmental problem in many parts of the region, and the lack of clean water impacts human health and slows the development of economies. Water utilization rates will increase further in many other parts of the region in the next quarter century as populations and economies grow.

Irrigation in Asia accounts for 80-85 percent of total freshwater withdrawals. The large-scale irrigation schemes implemented during the Green Revolution are extremely inefficient, delivering as little as 40 percent of the water to crops. Subsidies exacerbate the problem by encouraging the expansion of inefficient supply systems and by discouraging demand-side behavior that would improve water delivery services. Expansion of the total land area under irrigation is continuing, albeit at a slower rate than in prior decades (UN-ESCAP 1999).

The development of water resources has disrupted the full spectrum of freshwater ecosystem services. Dams and reservoirs coupled with extensive deforestation in some watersheds have reduced stream water levels, lowered water tables, degraded riparian wetlands, diminished freshwater aquatic diversity, and increased flood damage. Excessive demand for groundwater in coastal cities such as Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Karachi, and Manila has led to saline intrusion and ground subsidence.

Water quality has been steadily fouled by sewage, industrial effluent, urban and agricultural runoff, and saline intrusion (see Box 1-3). Levels of suspended solids in Asia’s rivers almost quadrupled since the late 1970s. In Asia’s rivers, the median fecal coliform level, an indicator of the health risk from human waste, is three times the world average and 50 times higher than the level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). As a result, one in three Asians has no access to a safe drinking water source (that operates at least part of the day) within 200 meters of the home. Access to safe drinking water is worst in South and Southeast Asia, where almost one in two Asians has no access to sanitation services and only 10 percent of sewage is treated at a primary level (ADB 1997).

In many parts of the region, economic development is most active in coastal zones, putting enormous pressures on coastal ecosystems and fisheries. Problems within coastal areas include widespread poverty; declining fisheries’ productivity from over-harvesting, destructive fishing, and loss of habitat; increasing environmental damage through shoreline development, land reclamation, and pollution; reduced access of traditional users to fishing grounds; and damage to tropical marine ecosystems from global climate change and rising sea levels (especially degradation of coral reefs from increased sea surface temperatures, coastal erosion, and flooding in coastal areas). The decline of coastal ecosystems is of particular concern in the Asia and Pacific region because populations are concentrated in coastal areas (Olsen and Christie 2000). Nearly one-half of the world’s coastal population—477 million people—is housed in an urban agglomeration on Asian shores (GEO 2000). In Southeast Asia, about 250 million people live within 100 kilometers of a coastline (Bryant and others 1998).

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