Global Health

Governments and other institutions are faced with daunting management tasks in the area of integrated water and coastal resource management (IWCRM). They must provide not only for the citizens of today but also for future citizens. In so doing, they must balance the needs for economic growth and stability with the reality of declining availability and quality of natural resources. To manage realistically and maximize returns while minimizing risks, governments must be able to understand the needs of people, business, and other national and international interests. Governments must also develop and use systems that incorporate mechanisms for eliciting and acting upon citizen and business concerns as well as dealing with political and geopolitical realities. To meet these needs, governments must analyze requirements, develop policies, propose and pass legislation and regulations, and evenhandedly enforce them.

Mismanagement of coastal resources as in Tanzania and Peru can have negative impacts on health and food security across a village or a nation. Lack of clean water kills millions of children and other populations at risk every year and is a continuing issue in global health. Installation of well points in villages and providing best management practices about water-related hygiene is an extremely cost-effective way to have a substantial impact on morbidity and mortality.

Water pollution from industrial, urban, and rural sources negatively impacts both ground and surface water quality. Pollutants range from increased fecal coliform in drinking water resulting from inadequate or non-existent treatment of sewage, to increased nitrites and pesticides in surface and ground water from agricultural run-off, to increased levels of persistent organic pollutants from poor or non-existent treatment of industrial wastewaters. The pollution impacts people at all levels of society, from the household to the national and international level. Being able to detect these pollutants and then develop institutional and technological solutions dealing with them are of increasing importance .

Equally important are legacy issues from long-standing operations. Examples of such legacy water pollution problems include industrial pollution of aquifers in Thailand and Eastern Europe, and increased arsenic in groundwater in Bangladesh. Thailand has recently begun detecting organic pollutants in groundwater that are associated with their burgeoning electronics industry. The Bangladesh arsenic problem is related to continued over-pumping of groundwater resources to provide freshwater and irrigation for rice. The problem is virtually pandemic in the country and beginning to have significant health effects. Groundwater problems that are a legacy of 50 years of Soviet industrial policy are also well known in every state that was a part of the former Soviet Union . All of these problems impact human health and the environment in many significant ways and require solutions that encompass changes in policies and institutions in addition to technology.

As countries have come to realize that water is not inexhaustible, they are developing policies and implementing laws to equitably share this resource. In some cases, national water utilities are beginning to recover the true cost of providing water while in turn tracking down system-wide losses. In doing this, the utilities have come to realize that their infrastructure, management, operations, and indeed their client communication, are often deficient. There are also instances where countries are no longer turning a blind eye to illegal clear-cutting now that they understand that such practices have much wider-ranging impacts. These impacts include loss of the ability to recharge aquifers, increased flooding and less overall water availability. Institutional, technical, and social solutions are needed to address these issues.

Increasing and Improving Natural Resources

Global Health

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