Water in the World: local and global challenges

Water has a major influence on the health and quality of life, on energy consumption and on our climate. In other words, on all of the underlying problems that have led to the UN Sustainable Development Goal #6: “Clean water and sanitation for all”.

Here At AVK we strive to contribute to this goal, so we have published a booklet about water management across the globe. The booklet explains how the current ways of managing water reflect badly on areas such as water scarcity, pollution, health, energy consumption and financials, as well as how our water access is affected by climate, overexploitation, the food industry etc. our goal is to create awareness, and at the same time set the scene for a dialogue about all the competencies and solutions that are just waiting to be implemented.

Now that you are updated on the water situation, are you ready to join the dialogue ?

in different places around the world, water is a rare resource. Despite this, worldwide between 35% and 40% of the water we obtain and supply from different sources is wasted. More than a third of the supplied drinking water never reaches the end user:

"Water loss is the worst – it is a waste of an often-sparse resource and also of the resources (energy, labour and write-off of infrastructure) used to extract the water.” - Bjørn Kaare Jensen, VC, Danish Water Forum, President, European Water Association

the lack of clean water costs millions of people their lives every year. and is a huge burden on healthcare. Reach the goal of proper drinking water and sanitation can save 10% on healthcare globally.

We waste a lot of energy for no reason

With 35-40% lost water, this means that a third of the energy used in the production and distribution of water is wasted too. The global water industry uses approximately 120 MTOE every year - roughly corresponding to the combined energy consumption of Australia.

”We can shut down all coal-fired power plants in the EU from one day to the next if we implement the knowledge and technology at our disposal today.” - Lars Schrøder, Director, Århus Vand

and this is just the current status.

"Where are we 10 years from now? Just as many of the populations worldwide, the current water scarcity issue will grow exponentially in the decades to come. We have a supply-demand deficit. Populations are growing and growing up. The standard of living is increasing.” - Dr. Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy, Executive Director, IWA

interested in learning more? you can Download your own copy of the booklet below (PDF).