Water Billion m3

China India

Sub-Saharan Africa

Rest of Asia N America Europe

S America MENA

Oceania 243 181 72

89 85 21 7

100 68

6 28 9 23 180 99 124 12 184

Municipal and domestic Industry Agriculture

178 338 320 117 21 28 300 89

92 80

326 40

440 440

54 468 532 Change from 2005 (%) 61 58 283

54 43 50

95 47 109 Figure 10: Assessment of expected increase in the annual global demands for water by country and region

(2005-2030) Source: 2030 Water Working Group (2009)

is one of decline (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report 2005; WWF’s Living Planet Report 2010; the UN World Water Development Report 2010). Examples of this decline include:

■ Barriers have been laid across China’s Taihu Lake to stop regular algal blooms reaching the water treatment plant that supplies water to over 2 million people (Guo 2007);

■ From October 2002 until October 2010, the absence of flow has meant that dredges have been used to keep the mouth of the Australia’s River Murray open to the sea;

■ In Manila, the Philippines, groundwater extraction, primarily for industrial purposes, is lowering the water table at a rate of between 6 metres and12 metres per year (Tropp 2010), and;

■ In 1997, China’s Yellow River flowed all the way to the sea only for 35 days. For much of the year the river’s last 400-plus miles were dry (Fu 2004).

There is a new recognition of the positive synergy that emerges between healthy environments and healthy communities. As documented by Le Quesne et al. (2010), some countries are now investing large amounts of

Box 3: Two examples of governments investing in river restoration

Korea In July 2009, the Republic of Korea announced a Five-Year Plan (2009-2013) for

Green Growth

in order to implement the National Strategy for Green Growth. This includes a 22.2 trillion Korean Won (US$ 17.3 billion) investment in a Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. The five key objectives of the project are as follows: (1) securing sufficient water resources against water scarcity, (2) implementing comprehensive flood control measures, (3) improving water quality whilst restoring the river-basin eco systems, (4) developing the local regions around major rivers, and (5) developing the cultural and leisure space at rivers. Overall, it is expected that the project will create 340,000 jobs and generate an estimated 40 trillion Won (US$ 31.1 billion) of positive economic effects as rivers are restored to health.

Australia In January 2007, the Australian government announced a A$ 10 billion (US$ 10 billion) commitment to restore health to the seriously over-allocated Australia’s Murray Darling basin and appoint an independent authority to prepare a new plan for the basin using the best available science. Some A$ 3.1 billion is being spent on the purchase of irrigation entitlements from irrigators and the transfer of these entitlements to a Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, A$ 5.9 billion on the upgrade of infrastructure with half the water savings going to the environment, and A$ 1 billion on the collection of the information necessary to plan properly.

Sources: Office of National River Restoration (under the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs) (2009); Korean Ministry of Environment and Korea Environment Institute (2009) and Murray Darling Basin Authority (2010). Available at http://www. theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/prime-ministers-10-billion-water-plunge/story- e6frg6nf-1111112892512

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