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Khaleej Times Save Water Campaign Launched

DUBAI — A more comprehensive, worldwide database on water quantity and quality is desperately needed to help governments and organisations tackle and prevent water crises, a United Nations official has urged.

Dr Richard Robarts, who coordinates the collection of data on water in more than 100 countries as director of the Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) - a branch of the United Nations Environment Programme - spoke to Khaleej Times this week on international water issues and the role the UAE could play.

Dr Robarts has targeted Africa as his top priority and the urgency for action there lent weight to a partnership with UAE bottled water manufacturer, Oasis Water, which seeks to provide the continent’s poorest people with access to clean drinking water. UN figures indicate 4,500 children die each day in Africa from unsafe water.

“Sudan is right up there. But it’s not just quantity of water, it’s quality as well,” Robarts said. “It affects every aspect of their lives. Whether it’s kids going to school and unable to stay awake in class or adults going to work. So many diseases are transmitted through water.”

The Oasis “Water for Africa” campaign will run for two months. Money from each bottle bought will fund GEMS work in raising awareness of the importance of clean water and how to access it, increasing data and improving infrastructure.

“The basic GEMS programme costs about $1million to run a year, but costs are always going up,” Robarts said. “We’re looking for partnerships with industries and this industry partnership is a first for the region.”

Robarts, who is based in Canada, said the United Nations was hindered by a chronic lack of data on water issues and old or incomplete information was used in many reports.

“Without information you can’t develop management programmes, without information governments can’t develop policies. GEMS has stations in more than 100 countries but that is still only half the countries participating. The database dates from 1965 to 2008 but we have big gaps,” he said. “The picture could be considerably worse or considerably better,” he added.

Robarts said GEMS had no water-monitoring partnership with the UAE government, although the department was working with Jordan, Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m not aware of any international water-monitoring programme in the UAE, but we’d be delighted to work with the government. Already the Minister for Environment and Water has lent his support to this campaign,” he said.

“In the UAE, you’re sitting in the middle of this arid region. There’s of course an importance on conserving water. Desalination is a trend in a lot of places, and it’s a good idea here. Let’s face it: there’s not much ground water, there is no other source of water really in the region,” he said.

“Where there is political will and resources, we can make it happen. There is no reason why the UAE can’t be a showcase for water management.”

zoe@khaleejtimes.com