Saluting the grande dame of water studies: On her 97th birthday

Today, Nov 21, is Professor Malin Falkenmark's birthday: she has turned 97. And yet she is researching and writing about her life's mission - hydrology- as actively as ever.

With a lifetime of studying, thinking and speaking out actively about water related issues, there are many many credits to her name. And yet, if there is one contribution that towers over all else, it is her 1989 publication of an indicator of water stress, expressed as renewable fresh water available per capita, per year in a given geography. And based on the defined quantities, three levels of water stress were defined for any country: less than 1700 cubic metres meant water stress, less than a 1000 cubic metres was water scarcity and less than 1000 meant absolute water scarcity. So powerful was the impact of her studies in defining and measuring the amount available for human use, the that this has simply got to be known as the Falkenmark Indicator.

There is much much more to this renowned hydrologist- including her defining the concepts of blue water (liquid water, available for irrigation and other uses) and green water (soil water, available for plants).

Just a few months ago, at her age, during the 25th jubilee year of the World Water Week in Stockholm, the focus of the annual Malin Falkenmark seminar was on the semi-arid regions of Africa where population growth is high, and irrigation water scarce. The simple solution as the presentations so blatantly manifested is better rain management! That is just how active she is is...

Happy Birthday!