Water and Energy

                                                                                                                                  

The world water day is celebrated every year on 22 March with a new agenda to remind its member states and other relevant stakeholders on the importance of fresh water and to promote sustainability of fresh water resources and proper management. The world water day was officially assigned on 22 March in 1993 by the United Nation General Assembly during the United Nation conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992. The agenda for the 2014 is “Water and Energy”. Water and energy are interwoven, problem for one can create problems to another because we need water to produce energy and needed energy to pump the water to the treatment plant, pre-treat and then pumped to the consumer, the relationship of water and energy is time immemorial and it is continuously evolving.

The major energy resources of Nepal consist of biomass, hydroelectricity, petroleum, natural gas and coal but most of them are untapped due to inefficiency of expertise, financial un-affordability and unstable politics situation of Nepal, about 84% of Nepalese populations are residing in the rural area and they are relying on traditional source of energy like biomass for their annual requirement of timber, fuel wood and fodder. Nepal has a huge potentiality of hydroelectricity production due to its steep gradient and diverse topography, Expert on related field estimated that Nepal has approximately 40,000 MW of hydroelectricity production potentiality and it is economically feasible, presently we are having 600 MW of Hydro power. The demand of electricity is escalating by about 8-10% each year; about 40 % of population has access to electricity. The available hydroelectricity is not able to fulfill the demand within the country so there is no questions of exporting energy for the commercial propose, people within the country facing more than 12 to 14 hours of load shedding each day during the dry season so less possibility of industrial development.

Water plays very important role for the quality of life, almost, all human civilization flourished around the water sources but we have no respect for it. Polluting water is biggest misuse of fresh water, as we know that water has no taste and smell, water does not provide any calories or organic nutrient but the existence of water is essential for the life on earth. Since the day we started to pollute the river, we are struggling for each drop of fresh water. Everyday water is getting contaminated with different substances like organic and inorganic matters, Chemicals and other contaminated materials before arriving to our tap. Water providing industries should be responsible for fresh water because they are delivering water to home and involving in service like purifying water, sewage treatment, filtering, distillation and plumbing. The world Health Organization estimates that safe water could prevent 1.4 million child deaths from diarrhea each year. Currently most of the Nepalese people are routinely drink unhealthy water. There are abundant fresh water sources, it is not well distributed to drier region where it needed. Access to safe drinking water has been becoming the issue of concern since last decade. Some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world population will be facing water base vulnerability. The water industries are not sincere providing fresh water to the consumer, the existing river are polluted day out and day in.

Kathmandu and other big cities of Nepal experiencing water scarcity, the population is increasing day by day while water level in decreasing. The fast growing development of housing and industry is increasing the demand of fresh water beyond the limit of its taping sources which is causing the desertification of the earth. There is common perception that water has infinite resources due to it hydrologic cycle of evaporation, condensation and precipitation but it is not like that, water resources are drying up with the increscent of population and pollution. Global warming around the world is causing the melting of water towering mountain of Himalayas, solid water from glaciers and ice cap of Antarctica and Greenland, sea level is rising up which is destroying the city developed around the coastal area, due to global warming  there is change occurring in  rainfall pattern which is causing  severe storms and intense heat waves  affecting  growing crops, forest in fires, causing  floods and damaging  infrastructure.

Water is energy which can take any shape, it depend on our using capacity and technology. Political slogan like “Nepal is the second largest country in the world for water” is useless. We are not able to use it for hydroelectricity production and other uses. There are more than 5000 rivers in Nepal with the potentiality of hydro electricity production; private companies are luring government for privatization of the state’s natural water resources.  Private sector participation in water supply and sanitation and hydroelectricity production is becoming more controversial, civil society and public must be vigilant to the Government strategy and agreement plan. Numerous people are fighting for their basic rights of drinking water, United Nations report, 2006 stated that "there is enough water for everyone", but that access to it is hampered by mismanagement and corruption. We have already done many river related treatise with our neighboring country India which is endangering our traditional relation, life and living stander. Every year people are dying in Nepal and India due to the dam constructed in Nepal as per the both parties agreement. There must not be any politics for water uses. The natural resources are becoming scarcer in certain places, and its availability is becoming a major social issue.

Water is becoming very valuable commodity, the snow-capped Himalayan of Nepal represent fresh water towering zone for the river which could be the cause of next water war as it was happened in Middle East for the oil. Water resources are comparable to oil, climate change, growing demand for water and declining water sources could be the reason for future water war. there has been much speculation over what causes of conflicts over water. The conflict may arise over water, who has power to control it, will control the state economy and population. The conflict may further go as a result of   pollution which affecting the qualities of life. Corporate giants are forcing developing countries to privatize their water sources for profit, corrupt government are using water for economic and political gain. The dependency level is high in underdeveloped country like Nepal; hidden motive behind lending loan is to control the state political affairs and natural resources. Full privatization of water and hydroelectricity production must not be done, Public private partnership is the best policy where ownership of the assets remains to public and only certain functions are delegated to private company for the specific time duration, new water policy needs to be formulate to promote private sector investment in the sector of hydropower development and drinking water uses. The water and energy is prerequisite for the sustainable development of any nation.

 By Giri Bahadur Sunar

The author is a sociologist and can be reached at girithejorba@gmail.com