Running on empty

Water is not a sexy topic. It doesn't have the business appeal of battles between oil magnates and renewables champions, or the political intrigue of international climate debates like the Copenhagen Summit. But while water hasn't garnered as much attention on the environmental news front, along with oxygen and food, it's pretty much up there in terms of basic necessities.

Here's a quick rundown of the numbers: the world's water supply stays relatively constant, with only around one hundredth of a percent of it available for use - the vast majority (95%) is stored in the oceans and the rest frozen up in ice caps and glaciers.

The remaining 500 000 or so cubic kilometres of water circling through the atmosphere may seem substantial, but as populations rise the amount of clean, safe water for every person is shrinking. And with industrial processes getting thirstier by the day, that telltale rattling of the straw is not far off.

According to UN estimates, one billion people worldwide lack access to clean, potable water, and 2.6 billion are without basic sanitation. Sub-Saharan Africa tops the list of vulnerable regions, and SA is set to join several other African nations as a water scarce country by 2025, when two-thirds of the world's population could be living under water-stressed conditions.

Considering survival gets rather tricky without a daily dose of H₂0, it seems puzzling that relatively little value is attached to its provision and use. People keep meticulous track of electricity costs and petrol prices, but water is treated as a cheap and freely available product, rather than a scarce natural resource. It's left to flood the pavements when pipes burst, and gurgling down the drain as we cook, clean, and go about more important business.

This is likely to change, however, as water's fundamental role in another basic need - energy - becomes increasingly apparent.

With the global population heading for the eight billion mark in the next 20 years, our energy appetite threatens to overwhelm available resources. Besides the growing demand of traditional energy-guzzling industries such as mining and agriculture, the world's technology fetish is also driving an intensifying hunger for power, as appliances, phones, music players, digital cameras, and other gadgets get plugged in, used up and recharged. And the effect of this insatiable need for energy on water availability is rapidly becoming a major issue.

A recent report by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Spectrum publication predicts a looming clash between water and energy needs. It reveals simply plugging in a smartphone sees half a litre doing the rounds through pipes, heat exchangers and the like, to keep us charged up and in contact.

Water availability is inextricably bound up in the global energy equation.

Lezette Engelbrecht, Copy editor and journalist

It also cites calculations by energy blogger Robert Osborne showing a single Google search takes about half a millilitre of water - nothing to write home about really. But multiply that by the 300 million searches conducted every day, and you get a hefty sum of 150 000 litres. That's a thousand bathtubs of water to help fuel searches for everything from recipes to movie reviews.

Also, in a society generating and consuming information at an explosive rate, the need to store this deluge has resulted in data centres springing up around every corner. As the server count grows, so does the need for cooling, with its double-whammy demand for water, as both a direct component and in the related energy supply. An Environmental Protection Agency report reveals that under current efficiency trends, server and data centre energy consumption in the US could reach more than 100 billion kWh by 2011. If these trends continue, it would require an additional 10 power plants.

The problem is two-pronged: One, lots of water is used to produce energy, and two, lots of energy is consumed to get that water there in the first place. As the availability of these resources becomes increasingly intertwined, a battle between two essential elements of survival is emerging.

The move to greener technologies might not solve the problem either. While combating several other environmental ills, the industries forming the backbone of a more sustainable future in many cases still suck water in construction, manufacturing, operating and distribution processes.

Solar power, for example, is one of the frontrunners as a viable alternative to conventional electricity generation, but has been criticised for its high water consumption. This is exacerbated by the fact that sunny areas ideal for solar power often already suffer from water scarcity. While there are exceptions, such as dry-air cooled solar technologies, they involve a cut in efficiency and are not a practical solution for every region. Finding a balance between the economic, geographic, environmental and social realities in various areas is essential if a new energy path is to be in any way successful.

In recent years, water has predominately been seen as part of the climate problem - something that will become increasingly scarce as temperatures rise, and a source of environmental disaster in the form of typhoons and tsunamis. But it's not often viewed as part of the solution.

Water needs to become part of the debate. While the increasing focus on energy supply and climate change is commendable, it has somewhat overshadowed other elements which could make or break the future green economy. Water availability is inextricably bound up in the global energy equation, and one cannot advance one without considering the other.

Nature's cycles involve a complex and delicate interplay of co-dependent elements, which together maintain the balance that sustains life. An opportunity exists to incorporate this interconnected approach when considering the technologies that will carve out the evolving economy. As Douglas Wheeler puts it, 'to halt the decline of an ecosystem, it is necessary to think like an ecosystem'.

I find it puzzling that water, despite being one of the few things crucial for survival, gets so little attention in wider social, environmental and technological arenas. It may not be the hot young upstart of the climate debate, but any move towards sustainability, no matter how advanced or hi-tech, will have to incorporate this most primordial of elements.