The Triangle

Issue date: 3/5/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Georgia Gripiotis The Chestnut Street bridge over the Schuylkill River offers a view of one of the water sources in Philadelphia. However, the world's fresh water supply may be depleting and was the topic of Drexel's Global Challenges forum.

The Office of International Programs held the 3rd Annual Student Conference on Global Challenges Feb. 26, which focused on the issue of the global crisis of water.

The keynote speaker was Maude Barlow, who is the national chairperson of the Council of Canadians and the senior adviser on water to the president of the United Nations General Assembly. She addressed "The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water."

Most people are under the impression that our fresh water supply recycles itself, but this is incorrect; we are depleting, polluting and displacing the finite amount of water we have, Barlow said.

Unlike other areas of the world that already realize the importance of water because of its scarcity, Barlow said water shortage has resulted because we don't see water as an essential ingredient of a healthy ecosystem.

Barlow said she believes the solution is for governments of the world to come together to see this issue as they do climate change and proposed three fundamental principles: live within our water means, make water a public trust and use it as a bridge to peace as opposed to conflict.

"This positive ending to her speech resonated with me, and I hope the audience," Julie Mostov, associate vice provost for International Programs, wrote in an e-mail.

According to Barlow, many countries are already hot stains - areas currently running out of water. One in three people in Africa don't have enough water for daily needs, and officials in Australia are "desperately" trying to decide what actions may need to be taken because water shortages are imminent, Barlow said. Furthermore, India's new technology of 25 million bores pumping 24/7, which cannot provide water to many cities such as Mumbai, hit the bottom of the water table, she said.

Water shortages are not just happening in underdeveloped or developing countries. According to Barlow, the aquifer in western U.S., Ogallala, is only producing half the food as it did in the 1970s due to overpumping. As water sources decrease, food sources decrease, Barlow explained.

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