2017 UN World Water Development Report (WWDR)

The 2017 edition of WWDR, the fourth in a series of annual, theme-oriented reports, is titled Wastewater: The Untapped Resource.

Main messages of WWDR

·      Globally, water demand is predicted to increase significantly over the coming decades. In addition to the agricultural sector, which is responsible
for 70% of water abstractions worldwide, large increases in water demand are predicted for industry and energy production. Accelerated urbanization and the expansion of municipal water supply and sanitation systems also contribute to the rising demand.

·      Climate change scenarios project an exacerbation of the spatial and temporal variations of water cycle dynamics, such that discrepancies between water supply and demand are becoming increasingly aggravated.

·      The frequency and severity of floods and droughts will likely change in many river basins worldwide. Droughts can have very significant socio-economic and environmental consequences. The crisis in Syria was, among other factors, triggered by a historic drought (2007–2010).

·      Two thirds of the world’s population currently live in areas that experience water scarcity for at least one month a year. About 500 million people live in areas where water consumption exceeds the locally renewable water resources by a factor of two.

·      The availability of water resources is also intrinsically linked to water quality, as the pollution of water sources may prohibit different types of uses. Increased discharges of untreated sewage, combined with agricultural runoff and inadequately treated wastewater from industry, have resulted in the degradation of water quality around the world. If current trends persist, water quality will continue to degrade over the coming decades, particularly in resource-poor countries in dry areas, further endangering human health and ecosystems, contributing to water scarcity and constraining sustainable economic development.

·      Improved wastewater management generates social, environmental and economic benefits, and is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Wastewater: An Untapped Resource

·      The quantity of wastewater produced and its overall pollution load are increasing worldwide. 


·      Over 80% of the world’s wastewater – and over 95% in some least developed countries – is released to the environment without treatment.


·      The release of untreated wastewater remains common practice, especially in developing countries, due to lack of infrastructure, technical and institutional capacity, and financing.

·      Pollution from untreated wastewater adversely effects on human health and the environment and reduces freshwater availability.

·      Treated wastewater is a reliable source of water that can be safely used to offset growing water scarcity. 


·      Wastewater can be a cost-effective and sustainable source of energy, nutrients and other recoverable by-products, with direct 


·      As an essential component of a circular economy, wastewater use and by-product recovery can generate new business opportunities while helping finance improved sanitation services. 


·      The costs of improved wastewater management are usually outweighed by benefits in terms of human health, socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability. 


·      Accelerating urbanisation and aging infrastructure provide opportunities for adopting alternative low-cost approaches to wastewater management tailored to meet specific local needs. 


·      Phosphorus recovery from wastewater is becoming an increasingly viable alternative to scarce and depleting mineral phosphorus reserves.


·      Actions to improve wastewater management fall under one of the ‘4 R’s’: reducing pollution at the source; removing contaminants from wastewater flows; reusing treated wastewater; and recovering useful by-products. 


·      Barriers to the use of reclaimed water and recovered by-products are often economic and regulatory, rather than technical. 


·      Overcoming negative public perceptions (i.e. the ‘yuck factor’) is critical to implementing water reuse schemes. 


·      Appropriate pricing of water from all sources to reflect its actual cost enables investments that can translate into affordable service delivery for all, including the poor. 


US Government Report on Drastic Impact of Climate Change

A sweeping federal climate change report by scientists from 13 US federal agencies directly contradicts claims by President Trump and members of his cabinet who say that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain, and that the ability to predict the effects is limited. The Report was completed in early 2017 and is a special science section of the National Climate Assessment, which is congressionally mandated every four years.

The main conclusions of the Report are:

·      Evidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans.

·      Significant advances have been made linking human influence to individual extreme weather events since the last National Climate Assessment was produced in 2014.

·      Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are primarily responsible for recent observed climate change.

·      It is possible to attribute some extreme weather to climate change. The field known as “attribution science” has advanced rapidly in response to increasing risks from climate change.

·      Worldwide, it is “extremely likely” that more than half of the global mean temperature increase since 1951 can be linked to human influence.

·      Even if humans immediately stopped emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the world would still feel at least an additional 0.30 degrees Celsius of warming over this century compared with today. The projected actual rise will be as much as 2 degrees Celsius.

·      The average temperature in the US has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years. Every corner of the US has been touched by climate change.

·      It is very likely that the accelerated rate of Arctic warming will have a significant consequence for the US due to accelerating land and sea ice melting that is driving changes in the ocean including sea level rise threatening the coastal communities.

·      The average annual temperature in the US will continue to rise, making recent record-setting years “relatively common” in the near future.

·      Stabilizing the global mean temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius — what scientists have referred to as the guardrail beyond which changes become catastrophic — will require significant reductions in global levels of carbon dioxide.

The authors of the Report are awaiting permission from the Trump administration to release it. They fear that the Trump administration could change or suppress the report.