ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 16, 1996 TAG: 9612160148
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
SOURCE: SINGAPORE
EXPERTS PREDICT that Asian countries will have severe water problems by 2025. In the next 50 years, some say water - not oil - will be the resource fought over.
Floods killed hundreds of people in China this year and heavy rains spread havoc in Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and elsewhere. But despite such deluges, much of the booming region is running short of water.
Long an abundant resource in much of Asia, water supplies are being drawn down by increased use from expanding industrial production, rising living standards and growing populations.
Experts have been warning for several years that Asians must reduce consumption and curb wastage or face economic and social disruption.
``Water tables are falling, rivers are drying up and competition for dwindling supplies is increasing,'' Sandra Postel, a water expert for the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, said in a recent report.
A World Bank study said water supplies in China ``already are being siphoned away from farmlands surrounding Beijing in order to meet rising urban and industrial demands. With some 300 Chinese cities now short of water, this shift is bound to become more pronounced.''
The International Rice Research Institute, based in Los Banos, Philippines, warned last year that competition for water between agriculture and industry could lead to social unrest.
``Projections suggest that most Asian countries will have severe water problems by the year 2025,'' the institute said in a report.
The proliferation of wells could dry up underground water sources in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, it added.
``I suspect that in the next 50 years, we will see a shift from oil to water as the cause of great conflicts between nations and peoples,'' said Wally N'Dow, secretary-general of the U.N. Conference on Human Settlements held last June in Istanbul, Turkey.
``There is a tremendous economic and human cost involved due to inadequate supplies of water.''
Studies estimate about 60 percent of drinking water supplies in Third World cities are lost, either by illegal taps into the systems or leakage through rusted pipes, N'Dow said.
That compares with an average of 12 percent waste in the water systems of Britain and the United States, according to a U.N. survey.
Throughout the developing world, an estimated 20 percent of urban families buy water from vendors because they have no access to municipal systems.
For the 10 million residents of Jakarta, Indonesia' biggest city, access to the municipal supply is a mixed blessing.
The water utility, Perusahaan Air Minum, says it is able to supply only 50 percent of Jakarta's total needs. And it guarantees only that the water won't be murky; it doesn't promise it is safe to drink. Tourists are advised to drink only purified bottled water.
Research by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency found that 73 percent of shallow wells in North Jakarta are contaminated by human waste and ammonia. About 13 percent contain heavy metals, including mercury.
World Bank experts warn that with growing congestion and pollution in Indonesia's main cities, ``it will be increasingly difficult for Indonesia to compete for foreign investment.''
The bank said heavy reliance on underground water to serve industrial and domestic needs in Indonesia's big cities could not continue indefinitely.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB