Asia is expected to face a serious shortage of fresh water due to climate change, with more than one billion people forecast to be hit by the crisis, a US State Department report warned on June 6.
Melting glaciers in the Himalayas - which contain the largest store of water outside the polar ice caps, and feed seven great Asian rivers - may lead to increase flooding in the short term and reduced water supply in the long term, the report said.
"Reduced freshwater availability in Asia could affect more than one billion people by the mid-century," said the department's annual report on safe water and sanitation strategy in developing countries. The report to the US Congress added, "increased floods and changes in coastal water temperatures could result in greater morbidity and mortality due to diarrheal disease."
Globally, the report said, by 2020, 75-250 million people are expected to be under increased "water stress" due to long-term climate shifts and population growth. Moreover, yields from rain-fed agriculture could shrink by up to 50 percent.
The report contains US efforts to help provide affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation in developing countries. Over the past year, US government agencies committed more than 844 million dollars in official development assistance for water, sanitation, and related activities around the world, the report said. Climate shifts, in the short term, can impact the frequency and severity of droughts, floods, heat waves, and cyclones, it said.
They can then lead to changes in availability and quantity of surface and groundwater, increased water stress, disruption of services, and changes in water-related and water-borne diseases.
In the longer term, climate change can lead to changes in snow and glacier runoff that feed water supplies and to increases in coastal flooding and saltwater intrusion. "All of these changes will impact the economic and cultural systems that have developed in response to current climatic conditions," it said.
In some countries, the report said, droughts and flooding have been estimated to cause declines in gross domestic product of more than 10 percent. About 1.1 billion people across the globe reportedly lack access to safe drinking water, with Africa suffering the worst, the report said.
But the Asia/Middle East region is also seriously impacted by the problem with about 20 percent of its population still lacking safe drinking water and more than 500,000 young children dying from diseases caused by unsafe water supply, sanitation, and hygiene each year. In the region, the United States is currently helping implement water reforms in, among other countries, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.
While water demand is exploding in the rapidly growing region, it faces supply pressures due to poor infrastructure operation and maintenance, inappropriate technology, and weak technical and financial management, the report said.
"Unless fundamental changes occur in water management practices, the region will experience harsh water shortages that will adversely impact economic growth," it warned.
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