Winter drought, scarcity of drinking water, dry groundwater, fauna and flora in danger. Climatologists have been warning for several years about the risk of seeing the world’s water reserves dry up definitively. However, the current system, particularly agricultural, and water saving policies have not changed one iota or so little. Until this famous “water plan” presented last March by the government and supported loud and clear by President Emmanuel Macron. Ambitious enough to avoid a water war in the decades to come? “The problem with water is vast and important. So inevitably, this body of water is very largely insufficient “analyzes Juliette Duquesne, journalist, podcaster and co-author of the Carnets d’alerte collection, of which The water that we are.
Specialized in economic and environmental themes, Juliette Duquesne has been writing for many years on the risks linked to the overconsumption of water in the West. For her, the water war is not a myth but a reality to come if nothing is done to regulate the use and consumption of this vital liquid. At a time when the struggles around the installation of mega-basins, particularly in Deux-Sèvres, have made visible the problem of the possible scarcity of water in certain regions of France, the journalist has agreed to deliver her keen eye on a debate that has only just begun.
What is the main cause of water scarcity?
The first problem due to water is linked to climate change because there are going to be places on the planet where there will be more water, and places where there will be less. For example, we know that in France, average river flows are expected to decrease by 40% due to climate change. But climate change, he has a good back. It is often mentioned because, in fact, it is indicative of poor water management. And the reality is that we consume far too much water! Water withdrawals during the 20th century grew 1.7 times faster than population. It is therefore above all our water consumption that risks, in the first place, degrading all the natural environments, the fauna and flora which also need this water to restore themselves and to live.
In France, access to drinking water is a privilege that is difficult to measure as it appears to be normal. However, the quality of water seems to have deteriorated in recent years in France. What are the risks associated with drinking water of lower quality?
Drinking water is the term we use a lot in the West because it is standardized water which will not make you sick and which will normally be controlled to avoid pollution. It is therefore the water that arrives in our tap. For this, it has undergone an important treatment that allows us to drink it. Then there is safe water. It is a water that does not make you sick, but which will not necessarily be standardized as in the West. But it is clean and uncontaminated, neither by chemical pollution nor by bacteria. But water, when it is neither drinkable nor safe, is a vector of disease, diarrhea for children, even malaria. And you should know that about 30% of the world’s population does not have access to safe water, and that 80% of wastewater is not treated.
What does this bode for the years to come?
The reality is that today we pollute the water far too much. In France, almost all waterways and groundwater are polluted by pesticides and nitrates. We still find traces of atrazine in water sampling points even though it is a pesticide that was banned in 2004! But it’s not surprising because water is a receptacle for all pollutants. The problem is that we assess each pollutant separately. So we risk ending up with chemical cocktails that are poorly assessed in terms of environmental and health impacts. So, to remedy that, the water we drink is doubly treated. Either with activated carbon to remove some of the chemical pollution, or with reverse osmosis, which is a membrane that removes all traces of chemical pollutants. But it costs a lot more and it takes a lot more energy.
Why is the current agricultural model a problem when it comes to water consumption?
When we look at the figures, we quickly realize that it is our diet that has the greatest impact on water. Around the world, it varies from one study to another, but the water consumed by agriculture is around 80 or 90%! We will, for example in France, use a lot of water, especially to irrigate corn in the summer, a season which is sorely lacking in water. And this corn will then go to feed factory farms. So, be careful, it is not at all a question of accusing the farmers. They follow the political choices put in place after the Second World War and which continue to be made today through the common agricultural policy (CAP) and the various aids. Because the problem is there: despite the warnings, we continue to maintain an industrial agricultural model. It is the foundations of this model that we must change in the future if we want to preserve water.
What are we talking about when we talk about a possible “water war”?
There are two uses of this term. There was first talk of a “water war” in Latin America when protests erupted in response to the privatization of water management, particularly in Bolivia, by multinational corporations. Today, the “water war” is no longer so much linked to the privatization of water management but rather to conflicts of use, in places where there are tensions, either between countries , or between water users. We saw it with these mega basins, in Deux-Sèvres, which gave the impression to part of the population that water could be monopolized by a minority, even if it was to cultivate. Everyone wants to consume plenty of water. So, inevitably at some point, it can’t work! However, if there is one element that we all have to manage together, it’s water. It can bring us together if we can work together cooperatively. But it can also divide us.