Will We Have Enough? The Future of Water

By Mark Duey, Co-CEO, Water For People

Epic family road trips have been a part of my life since childhood. Last year, my wife, children, and I made one down much of the Colorado River basin—stopping at Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction, Lake Powell, and finally, the Grand Canyon. It was amazing, but the trip would have been much more epic had it been on the water! And we were saddened to find record-low water levels at Lake Powell.?

Sadly, the Colorado River is in crisis . Issues stemming from climate change, development, and rapid population growth have led to a situation that will continue to impact the more than 40 million people and 30 Tribal Nations who depend on the river. The Navajo Nation, one of those tribes, had petitioned the federal government—the case eventually made it to the United States Supreme Court—for help securing water from the Colorado River for the thousands of homes on its reservation. This request was based on treaties signed in 1849 and 1868. But Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada—states that draw water from the river—were concerned it would disrupt the current river management and states’ needs.??

Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled against the Navajo Nation’s request for the government to assess and address the tribe’s water needs in relation to the river. You only need a basic understanding of U.S. history to understand why this recent ruling disappoints many of us, particularly partners like Dig Deep , who have been working with the Navajo nation for several years now. Thirty percent of people on the Navajo reservation do not have running water in their homes.?

States like the ones in the Navajo Nation lawsuit are indeed anxious. How will they meet the supply needed by people, agriculture, and industry in the face of increasing droughts like what the Colorado River Basin has been experiencing? Climate change has forced water resource management into a tough spot between water rights, growing demand, and water justice. And this is not just happening in the U.S.?

Almost a decade ago, a farmer in Nicaragua explained that he could no longer predict the rainy seasons, which meant his family had to ration food more frequently. I asked him what he was going to do about climate change, and he looked me in the eye and said, “No—what are YOU going to do about climate change?” We were speaking two different languages—not English and Spanish—but rather, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation.?

Mitigation is all about energy. Adaptation is all about water—too much water, too little water, too dirty water. Investing in climate-resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) initiatives is the best investment anyone, including governments, can make to support families in the global south countries Water For People works with. This idea of climate change adaptation is also what wealthy countries like the U.S. now have to think about in different ways—as the Colorado River Basin water crisis demonstrates.?

With climate change impacting weather patterns more and more, water resource managers must navigate the complex task of allocating water fairly, ensuring that both urban and rural areas, as well as various economic sectors, have access to an adequate and reliable water supply. For some, like members of the Navajo Nation and many of the communities we work with globally, simply establishing basic services is still what’s needed.?

In other communities, it’s making sure those services are resilient. Stable WASH services in communities, schools, health care facilities, and households make them more resilient in the face of extreme weather like temperature increases or storms. Strengthening these systems IS climate adaptation.??

Several months ago, I visited the lower Himalayas (known as the “water tower of South Asia”) to see the work of a Tata Trusts-affiliated NGO called Himmotthan in Dehradun, India. I loved learning about some inspiring spring shed work there—including community-level water balance calculations, recharge zone mapping, and recharge ponds and trenches built by the community.?

One thing I really liked about Himmotthan’s work was at springs where they are improving recharge, such as installing digital water flow loggers that provide data on how much additional water is actually flowing from the targeted springs over time. This is a real, quantifiable impact backed by data that can help implementers understand what’s working and what’s not. Water For People is doing something similar in wetlands where we’re working to protect, restore, and recharge groundwater levels in western Uganda.??

As recently reported by the Joint Monitoring Programme of UNICEF and WHO , achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6—clean water and sanitation for all by 2030, will require a three- to sixfold increase in current rates of progress. In 2022, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water.??

I am convinced that post-2030, the entire global WASH sector will shift its focus to climate and water resources management as more and more water infrastructure serving the 5.8 billion who DO have safely managed drinking water goes dry due to climate change impacts. A massive segment of not only our current generation—but also generations to come—depends on us for action and investment NOW to ensure the most basic of human services—water!?