On Tuesday, September 23rd, the CSIS Global Strategy Institute launched its most recent report entitled Global Water Futures: A Roadmap for Future U.S. Policy. The event was held in the U.S. Capitol Building and Congressman Earl Blumenauer provided opening remarks. He explained that the human family has not kept pace with the global water problem (which is now being compounded by climate change) and that addressing the water crisis “is not rocket science” and requires relatively little funding to make a large impact. The Congressman noted that if we harness our knowledge, skills, and technologies to tackle the water challenge across the globe, we will not only save millions of lives, but also help stabilize relationships, add economic strength, and deal with conflict resolution.

Sally Cowal, Senior Vice President and Chief Liaison Officer of Population Services International, focused her remarks on global access to safe drinking water and sanitation. She pointed out that waterborne diseases cause the childhood death equivalent of 31 jetliners (full of the world’s children) crashing each day. She encouraged the deployment of low-cost, point of use technologies, which range between $3 and $30 per family per year for sustainable water treatment.

Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Director of the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program, offered comments relating to the geopolitical significance of the water challenge. He explained that we often use bilateral institutions to cope with problems in a multilateral world, and that transboundary river basins present an enormous opportunity for multilateral cooperation.

Ginette Hemley Senior Vice President for Conservation Strategy and Science at the World Wildlife Fund, called for the mainstreaming of water into U.S. foreign assistance and for the full utilization of existing U.S. government capacities in the water realm. For example, she drew attention to the U.S. Geological Survey as it possesses the best scientific knowledge of hydrology in the world, and she encouraged the sharing of this information with water-stressed countries to prevent future crises. Ms. Hemley also noted that ecosystems are drastically undervalued—the loss of freshwater species and degradation of wetlands over the past century has caused an economic loss of trillions of dollars.

Tanvi Nagpal, Director of Water and Sanitation Initiatives at the Global Water Challenge, declared that the human population urgently needs universal access to water and sanitation and we must convert human health to an issue of national security. She provided three approaches to the water problem: (1) Increase funds for water and sanitation; (2) Invest in long-term, sustainable solutions; and (3) Decrease costs of water and sanitation services.

Mark Winter, Board Member of Living Water International, provided closing remarks for the panel. He discussed the progress of the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act and the success of seeing safe drinking water incorporated as an element of PEPFAR. He called for a ‘one-stop-shop’ for water in the U.S. government as well as a high-level person in government to navigate the agencies working on water issues. He closed with the following statement: “Water is the liquid of life and the currency for peace.”

Slideshow

View the Slideshow from the Global Water Futures Rollout Event