InDepth: World Wide Water Mafia #02: Threats to Water Security

IC InDepth Team

Mumbai, 30 August 2019

Water theft, smuggling, and inadequately regulated water use pose substantial threats to water security.

These issues not only endanger licensed water users but also reverberate to impact unlicensed users and those who breach regulations.

The outcome is a cascade effect leading to water scarcity, potential rationing, escalating prices, and even the risk of insufficient water availability for essential needs.

In dire circumstances, this can culminate in an acute lack of water for basic human consumption.

This scenario is palpably evident in various Indian and Pakistani cities, where limited water availability mirrors electricity shortages.

Vulnerable Populations at Risk

The most immediate victims of water-related challenges are often the world’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities.

Across the globe, slum dwellers confront the stark reality of lacking access to safe drinking water. Hindered by the absence of links to public water distribution systems, they’re compelled to turn to informal or illicit water sources and suppliers.

This predicament ushers in inadequacy and exorbitant pricing for these informal water deliveries, paradoxically imposing a heavier financial burden on those already grappling with water scarcity.

This disparity in cost magnifies the predicament, where the marginalized pay more than the affluent for a resource they are critically deprived of.

Economic Strain and Health Consequences

In regions like El Salvador, Jamaica, and Nicaragua, impoverished households often allocate over 10 percent of their income to secure water, while their counterparts in the United States expend just 3 percent.

This stark contrast in financial strain paints a distressing picture of the economic imbalances in water access.

In nations grappling with severe water stress like Yemen and parts of Africa, even the most fundamental water needs—essential for subsistence, cooking, and hygiene—become unaffordable for the poorest segments of the population.

Compounding this crisis, communities scarred by conflict and refugees stand at heightened vulnerability to water scarcity, further exacerbating their plight.

Degradation of Water Quality

Uncontrolled water overuse—whether due to lax regulation or illicit acquisition—inevitably compromises water quality. This degradation isn’t confined solely to surface water misuse; tapping into deeper underground sources can also yield polluted water.

A case in point is Mexico’s Guanajuato state, an agricultural hub, where unrestrained water consumption by both agricultural enterprises and small-scale farmers has precipitated severe water scarcity.

In this scenario, underground water rife with arsenic and fluoride pollutants is increasingly used by the impoverished for drinking and potentially by businesses for agricultural purposes.

Astonishingly, it’s the agricultural sector that is the prime consumer, accounting for a substantial 82 percent of the region’s water use, yet evading financial responsibility for this essential resource.

Health Implications of Poor Water Quality

Elevated pollution levels and compromised water quality serve as breeding grounds for a range of grave diseases, spanning from cholera to typhoid and other persistent ailments.

The dire consequences of inadequate water access extend beyond immediate health risks, dramatically escalating infant mortality rates.

This dire situation interconnects with poverty through intricate webs, disproportionately affecting women in developing nations. In regions like South Asia and Africa, women bear the burden of extensive journeys and time-consuming efforts to secure water.

Ironically, as men dominate the landscape of water smuggling and illicit sourcing, the burden on women grows even heavier.

Challenges in Resource Allocation

Inability to secure payment for water usage due to rampant delinquency, pervasive water theft, and large-scale smuggling, cripples countries and cities in maintaining, upgrading, and expanding their water distribution systems. This predicament exacerbates challenges in coping with scarcity.

Many urban centers grapple with century-old water pipeline networks, ill-suited for contemporary populations. Consequently, roughly a quarter of global cities face water stress. For instance, Karachi, housing 20 million people, requires a colossal 1.1 billion gallons of water daily.

Despite ongoing water theft and smuggling within the city, the distribution infrastructure accommodates just half of this demand, while the city’s burgeoning 4.5 percent annual population growth further strains the already dysfunctional water network.

Astonishingly, only a quarter of Karachi’s residents settle their water bills. In Mumbai, corrosion and decay have tainted the water distribution system, fostering bacterial growth in pipelines.

Repairs come with staggering costs; in the U.S., where billions of gallons vanish daily through leaks, revitalizing water systems could surpass $1.3 trillion.

The urgency to modernize urban water infrastructures transcends borders; even in developed areas like Chicago, the third most populous U.S. city, wooden pipes persist in delivering water.

Water Mismanagement and Agricultural Impact

Unregulated or underpaid water consumption for agriculture stands as a primary driver of water scarcity.

Paradoxically, this water scarcity feeds back into agriculture, exerting adverse effects on food security and undermining both crop cultivation and livestock grazing.

Equally culpable, industries tend to overuse water without compensating for their consumption, effectively engaging in water theft.

This practice, coupled with subsequent water shortages, wreaks havoc on these industries and others, amplifying the ripple effects on economic stability.

Ecological Impact of Water Degradation

Unsustainable water use and theft inflict profound harm on ecosystems, setting off a chain reaction of adverse environmental consequences.

As water dwindles, once thriving wetlands desiccate, forests wither away, and biodiversity dwindles. Biodiversity mirrors local habitats, underscoring the stark contrast between water-rich areas like wetlands and rainforests, teeming with diversity, and water-scarce landscapes.

The demise of forests, whether through natural decay or human intervention, further amplifies negative hydrological impacts—triggering increased evaporation and soil erosion.

The illegal exploitation of groundwater, coupled with its excessive use, disrupts surface water dynamics and can critically reshape the intricate interplay between surface and groundwater.

Water Scarcity’s Sociopolitical Consequences

Water scarcity fueled by theft and mismanagement, alongside the complex web of water smuggling, can ignite political, social, and communal turmoil, inciting riots and instability.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM), a dominant political force in Karachi for decades, has frequently exploited water scarcity to exert pressure on rivals and spark political unrest.

Ironically, the very administration that controlled the city’s governance is responsible for inadequate water distribution networks.

Urban Water Woes

Mumbai, over the past fifteen years, has witnessed recurrent riots stemming from water scarcity and disruptions in legal and illegal water supplies.

In one instance, during March 1999, the “water mafia” took advantage of a water shortage caused by blocked transport routes and inflated prices tenfold.

This double-edged blow struck the impoverished populace—suffering both from water scarcity and exorbitant rates charged by illicit water vendors.

Tragically, Mumbai’s engineering focus has prioritized the city at the expense of rural areas nearby, intensifying rural-to-urban migration and escalating water smuggling to slum areas.

Regrettably, the phenomenon of cutoffs for political leverage extends beyond wartime, manifesting as an unethical tool of pressure and extortion.

Water as a Political Lever: Conflict and Extortion

Water, wielded as a tool of political pressure and extortion, transcends wartime scenarios.

In India’s Haryana state, the Jat caste employed water disruption to Delhi, a metropolis of 18 million, in February 2016 to advance their demands for inclusion in caste-based affirmative action programs.

The Jat caste also dominated illicit water distribution within Delhi, where a significant portion of households lacks access to public water systems. This pattern of leveraging basic infrastructure disruptions for extortion is a sadly effective component of India’s political landscape.

The escalation of such water-related conflicts can become highly incendiary if they intersect with ethnic and religious divides, perpetuating unequal water access among marginalized and minority groups.

Water as a Catalyst for Conflict

Water disputes frequently serve as potential catalysts for interstate conflict, sometimes even triggering hostilities.

Instances in the Middle East exemplify this, where countries’ damming and diversion of rivers have ignited confrontations.

Turkey’s upstream damming of rivers against Syria and Iraq, and Israel’s tensions with Palestine, underscore the volatility of water-related interstate tensions.

South Asia, marked by a history of contentious water attitudes, also harbors concerns—India fearing water access vulnerability due to China’s upstream damming of shared waterways, and Pakistan’s apprehensions about potential water cut-offs from India and Afghanistan.

Hydrological Hotbed of Conflict

Ironically, an excess of water can also become a weapon in conflicts.

ISIS threatened local Iraqi populations near a Euphrates dam, hinting at drowning, while manipulating water flow for its strategic advantage.

By manipulating dam gates, ISIS disrupted water distribution downstream while simultaneously fearing repercussions for their own strongholds.

Domestic Mismanagement’s Impact

Water scarcity’s roots often trace back to flawed domestic water management rather than mere upstream-downstream power struggles.

In India, subsidized electricity leads rural communities to excessively pump and deplete groundwater, creating unsustainable practices.

Balancing populist politics and the need for water and electricity price adjustments becomes a complex challenge.

Similarly, Nepal, a water-rich nation, grapples with storage inadequacies, facing severe dry season shortages.

Bangladesh, with ample water per person, also struggles with inadequate flood rain management, despite being downstream.

From Conflict to Crisis

Intriguingly, water concerns hold the potential to escalate into major interstate conflicts.

Past instances of cross-border clashes, like the 1999 strife between Mali and Mauritania over communal water sources, hint at such volatile dynamics.

The specter of interstate water smuggling, possibly with state involvement, looms.

Pakistan and India, with well-developed domestic water smuggling networks, offer a glimpse into this emerging threat, often intertwined with broader contraband operations in South Asia.

Driving Innovation and Crisis

Amid the challenge of water scarcity, innovative solutions might emerge, such as advanced desalination technologies to harness seawater more efficiently.

On the flip side, the scarcity can either spur or exacerbate the ominous trends of water theft and smuggling, further amplifying unsustainable water practices.

Magnitude of Water Theft: Unraveling the Numbers

The World Bank reports a staggering daily loss of 48.6 million cubic meters of potable water from official supply networks globally.

This volume could serve 200 million people with clean water. The issue is especially pronounced in developing nations, where an alarming 30 to 50 percent of treated water goes astray.

Next: InDepth: World Wide Water Mafia #03: Urban Centers Are Havens of Water Leakage and Theft

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