Disasters, Pollution & Ethics – We’re halfway through the year which means it’s time for our annual pollution status update from China from rivers to the seas. But we are also plagued by disasters – deadly floods & droughts rage in China while over in Delhi 25mn residents suffer water shortages in sweltering temperatures of 52.9°C; even clean Singapore is swamped with an oil spill. So, this month, we also mull over disaster management and the role of ethics in managing crises.

Pollution doesn’t have an immediate fix, it’s a gradual one. And although China still has a long way to go, how has its water quality progressed over the last year

According to the latest 2023 State of Ecology & Environment Report published by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, surface water quality continues to improve & exceed the 14FYP target for Grade I-III water. Some fared better than others – see which key rivers/reservoirs have improved more. Also, check out historic trends since the release of its 14FYP in 2021.

There’s more cause to celebrate… for the first time in years, China’s groundwater quality has finally improved. Groundwater quality which has been worsening over recent years has improved, albeit only by a little, but some improvement is better than none at all!

As for China’s seas, seawater quality in China’s coastal areas improved steadily from 2018 to 2023. It’s good to see that 85% of its coastal waters is now classified as ‘Excellent/Good’. But let’s not rest on our laurels, there’s more heavy lifting to be done…

Whilst seawater quality of 3 of the 4 major seas saw improvements, the East China Sea deteriorated. Get the low down in our review of the 2023 Marine Ecology & Environment Status Review.

Preventing water pollution and cleaning up our precious water resources must be prioritised; now more than ever, as climate change will only exacerbate water scarcity. If we want to see more drastic improvements in pollution, a holistic management strategy is needed going forward.

Perhaps one way to go about this is to turn to ethics as a solution. River management has been dependent on what’s expedient & cheap, rather than what’s best for a country in the long run. Without ethical considerations playing any role, pollution became widely accepted as a price to be paid for economic growth.

Water gurus Asit Biswas & Cecilia Tortajada say the right ethics framework can not only improve water management but help cope with disasters and other imminent water crises. They share three reasons why the world faces a grave water crisis in magnitude and extent as well as share their views on river ethics, its current progress & evolution around the world.

Meanwhile, the triennial 10th World Water Forum was back in full swing in Bali this year. It was not only great to be able to meet up in person but we were also invited to speak on a panel about financing for crises, recovery & resilience.

While it was great to see lots on disaster risk reduction and the need for a holistic approach across topics like source-to-sea and integrated river basin management, other important topics like salt-water threats from sea-level rise and ocean pollution were critically missing from the Forum agenda. Even mountain glacier ice melt and the Hindu Kush Himalayas had a session.

Financing was also big on the agenda but other than the usual players, the financial sector was glaringly missing. More on these points and what the Forum was like, including a surprise guest appearance from Elon Musk, in our 5 key takeaways.

Also in Bali, China’s Minister of Water Resources, Li Guoying, called to develop a community of good practices on river ethics across the world. This builds on four initiatives he proposed at the UN Water Conference last year including respecting the rights of rivers. Treating rivers as vital beings can strengthen ethics – New Zealand was a pioneer here granting legal personhood to the Whanganui River.

The time to respect water has come. A quick glance at the Tapping In Column for the month not only shows a growing body of science but also actual events that are leading to economic losses, suffering as well as deaths.

The numbers don’t look good – a 1°C rise in temperature is estimated to wipe out 12% of global GDP yet only 6% of IPCC scientists surveyed believe that achieving the 1.5°C target is possible. The majority (80%) say we are on track for 2.5°C by 2100 which means we’ll be in for water risks galore ahead.

With year-to-date warming reaching 1.63°C in May, water crisis and scarcity challenges will only mount. In times like these, it’s best not to pollute already scarce water resources in the first place. And we need to be ready…

Disaster planning is key. Tech can help but it’ll only get us so far, it is strong ethics and willpower to act that will help us cope with compounding disasters to come and ensure that there will still be water in our future.