Turkmen scientist about acute issues of water care

Dr. Allaberdy Ilyasov noted that today humanity is on the verge of a serious global crisis of water resources.

In an interview to CentralAsia.news a scientific analyst, famous Turkmen scientist, doctor of technical sciences and expert Allaberdy Ilyasov spoke about the problems of care of the water resources of the planet.

Turkmens say «A drop of water is a grain of gold»

The problem of providing the population with good-quality drinking water, rational water use in industry and agriculture is very painful for many countries of the world. The priority of the water strategy is the solution of water management issues on an integrated basis, taking into account the interests of all states of the Central Asian region.

The preservation and restoration of water and other natural resources, the fight against desertification, land degradation, and climate change are among the key areas of international cooperation of Turkmenistan, which initiates constructive solutions to global environmental problems for the well-being of present and future generations. After all, it is not for nothing that the Turkmen people say — «A drop of water is a grain of gold».

A careful attitude towards nature has become one of the main directions of the state policy of Turkmenistan. The «green development» strategy was initiated by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov as one of the models of sustainable economic and social development, based on innovative technologies and best practices.

The basis of life

Water is essential for maintaining health and life, as well as for food production and economic activity. But today, humanity is facing a serious global water crisis, as currently one billion people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water, and more than two billion people do not have enough water purification systems, which is the main cause of disease. caused by the use of water that does not meet sanitary standards.

Fresh water reserves amount to 34.6 million cubic km, 23.8 million cubic km  of which is represented by the ice of the Arctic, Antarctica, Greenland and glaciers of mountain regions. Also, 10.3 million cubic km are groundwater and only 0.5 million cubic km is concentrated in the main sources of world water consumption — rivers and lakes. The distribution of fresh water across the globe is extremely uneven. Europe and Asia, home to 70 percent of the world’s population, contains only 39 percent of river waters.

Water and energy

Water resources play an important role in the development of the world energy economy. The global hydropower potential is estimated at 10 trillion kW including the possible generation of electricity. The estimated potential of energy that can be obtained using renewable sources exceeds the level of world energy consumption by about 18 times, even if we limit ourselves to the already existing technologies for using wind, solar, biomass, etc.

Increasing energy efficiency is an important but insufficient condition for building sustainable energy systems. To do this, it is necessary to get rid of hydrocarbons and widely use renewable sources. The ultimate goal is to shift global energy from hydrocarbons to hydrogen. Hydrogen is not a greenhouse gas and does not generate carbon when burned.

On the contrary, when H2 is burned, electricity, heat and water vapor are obtained. All over the world, technologies for more active use of renewable sources in the process of generating electricity are used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Currently, one of the important strategies is to reuse waste water for the purpose of recovering water, nutrients or energy. Countries are increasingly using wastewater for irrigation — in developing countries, it accounts for seven percent of total irrigated land. However, if irrigation is not performed correctly, this practice can create certain health risks that need to be weighed against the potential benefits of increased food production.

The responsibility of the whole planet

Providing the world’s population with water and purifying water resources is a serious and costly task. How successful the governments of the world or the private sector are in this task is one of the most hotly debated questions among politicians, experts and representatives of public associations. To provide the world’s population with clean drinking water and purification devices, large investments are required, which are estimated at 14-30 billion dollars per year in excess of the 30 billion dollars that are currently allocated for these needs all over the world.

In most developing countries, most of the cost of water supply and water treatment is borne by public utilities, as well as providing the population with electricity, telecommunications and transportation.

It is believed that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which became the basis for all subsequent declarations of this kind, is not an exhaustive enumeration of everything without which human life is unthinkable, but only indicates the constituent elements of an adequate standard of living. The fact that water was not included in the list of these elements is due to the very nature of water: like the right to air, the right to water is so fundamental that its inclusion in the declaration was not considered necessary.

Claiming the right to water

Countries focusing on improving access to water have made some progress. Although most regions still have enough water to meet the needs of every human being, these resources need to be properly exploited and used. In today’s world, a large amount of water is wasted or inefficiently used, and often the rate of growth in demand exceeds the rate of possible natural replenishment of water supplies.

In the international arena, it is considered that the recognition of water as one of the basic human rights can become an important step in the process of solving the problem of providing the population with this vital resource.

A frequently discussed topic in the process of considering water as a fundamental human right has become the assertion that water is a prerequisite for the fulfillment of all other human rights. Without equal access to clean water, it is impossible to ensure such human rights as the right to a decent standard of living, to maintain health and well-being, as well as civil and political rights.

15 окт 2021, 10:52
Photo source: CentralAsia.news

страны центральной азии