Pew International Journalism Program

Worldwide Water Crisis Looming

By Matthew Algeo, Fall 2002 Pew Fellow

Washington, October 8, 2002 - A rapidly growing population and diminishing water sources will lead to a worldwide water crisis in the coming years, an expert on international water issues told Pew Fellows today. Curtis Barrett, the director of the National Weather Service's International Activities program, said lax environmental practices and global climate change will also hasten the crisis.

Barrett, a hydrologist who has worked on international water issues for more than a decade, said global demand for water has never been greater, and he said water is becoming "politicized," especially in the Middle East and in the Nile River basin. Barrett said the United States is taking steps to stem the crisis, principally by sharing technology to help developing nations get the most out of their water resources. Barrett said China, Panama, the Czech Republic and South Africa are among the nations the U.S. has helped.

But even those efforts face stumbling blocks, Barrett said. For example, he said some nations imply refuse to cooperate with their neighbors when it comes to water issues. He said none of the countries that take water from the Nile share data.

The solution to the worldwide water crisis is obvious, said Barrett: Nations must change the way they manage their water resources. The vast majority of water today is used for agriculture, and "that's going to have to change," he said. It won't be easy, Barrett said, but as the number of extreme weather phenomena like droughts and floods rise as a result of global climate change, water users won't have any choice. "Sometimes it takes shocks to the system to get changes in the system," he said.

One option is for farmers to switch to crops that require less water. Another approach is "rainfall modification," a process that involves artificially "seeding" clouds with canisters of nuclei to create rainfall. Barrett said researchers in South Africa claim to have increased rainfall 30% with this method. A more realistic long-term solution is desalination. "Desalination is very viable and becoming very cost-effective, even for poorer countries," Barrett said. In any event, Barrett said, there will have to be changes in the way water is used. He said the global population is expected to increase by 10 billion over the next 50 years.

Curtis Barrett has worked for the National Weather Service for more than 28 years. He has directed hydrological projects for the Nile River, the Panama Canal, and the Huai River in China. He has also helped develop and implement automated flood warning systems worldwide. He has also worked in the private sector, supplying customized hydrologic forecasts to numerous organizations, including the Army Corps of Engineers and the Red Cross.