On Saturday 22nd March, events will be held all over the world to mark World Water Day. In the East, some have already begun. The UN Water World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) released a report to coincide with the international day in Japan today. World Water Day this year is focused on the link between water and energy.  

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Agriculture and water are inextricably linked. Worldwide, farming is thought to account for about 70 percent of water withdrawals. However, this figure disguises massive variations; Europe uses an average 44 percent of its water for agricultural use, whilst in the United States, agriculture accounts for around 80 percent of water consumption.

In Western U.S. States such as California, which is in the midst of its worst drought since records began 100 years ago, over 90 percent of water is used for agricultural purposes.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 47 percent of the population could be living under severe water stress by 2050 and in August 2012, scientists conducting the first global analysis of water extraction reported in the journal Nature that demand for water has outpaced supply in the majority of the world's principal agricultural regions.

Irrigation, which makes up a significant part of agriculture's water footprint, is an area where experts have said savings could be made to ease the burden on our limited fresh water supplies. Although many forms of irrigation currently in use have helped boost crop productivity and yields, in many areas irrigation has led to untenable tress on aquifers and other water sources, as well as erosion and soil degradation.

However, as Danielle Nierenberg from the Worldwatch Institute and Food Tank policy group points out, there are a multitude of ways food production could be made more water-sensitive, including use of rainwater harvesting practices, zai pits, micro-irrigation, bottle irrigation, gravity drip buckets and rotational grazing systems, which Nierenberg this week said could "help create diverse landscapes, supporting wildlife and culture."

Issues with water usage

On Friday, when the UN WWAP published its World Water Development Report, the Programme noted that it is often the same people who lack access to necessary water resources, who also lack access to electricity. The report authors said on Friday that this situation is "unacceptable" and in need of urgent attention.

UNESCO leaders pointed out that, although this year's report deals predominantly with water use in the energy sector, a cross-sectoral approach to water management may be needed to address disparity in water availability and the potential for this to increase as the effects of climate change worsen. UNESCO pointed out on Friday that strategic choices made in one domain have repercussions on others; so, as droughts make energy shortages worse, the resultant lack of electricity reduces farmers' ability to irrigate their fields.

The scientific and cultural arm of the UN also questioned current values around water, warning that pricing policies in most areas could be hindering moves towards more effective water management. Water is often considered a 'gift of nature', and prices rarely reflect the real cost of its provision, UNESCO said, and this means energy producers and users, alongside other abstractors including farmers, are therefore not encouraged to save water.

UNESCO also urged against increasing production of crop-based biofuels, pointing out that these require a great deal of water to produce. UN experts added that Shale gas extraction, a deeply controversial fossil fuel extracted using hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking', also requires unacceptably large amounts of water and risks contaminating water tables. The UK government has backed fracking, though there has been widespread protest against the process in the UK.

UN experts instead called for more attention to be paid to renewables, including wind, solar and hydroelectrics, which they said have been underexploited. They did note, however, "that although these technologies require very little water, they supply power intermittently and [may] need to be combined with other sources that do require water" in the short term and medium term.

The potential of agriculture

As agriculture is responsible for the majority of water abstractions worldwide, Worldwatch's Nierenberg pointed out that there are areas where innovative practices are already being put to use to reduce the sector's burden on stressed water sources and produce more nutritious food.

The Food Tank president pointed to work being conducted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation which, in partnership with national governments, including those of Syria and Cape Verde, has invested in drip irrigation systems and engaged with farmers to improve the efficiency of irrigation on large and small-scale farms alike. In Cape Verde, 20 percent of the country's irrigation has now been converted to drip irrigation.

However, in some global regions, crop production may need to be revised in line with water availability and the potential for future changes. Plants that require more water, such as sugar cane and maize, may need to be switched for less water-intensive and more locally suitable varieties in order to protect water resources in the long-term, given that 20 percent of all aquifers are already believed to be overexploited and, by 2050, 2.3 billion people will be living in regions under severe water stress.

In Europe, there have also been revolutionary changes; in Spain, farmers have started re-using 'gray' drainage water from urban areas mixed with groundwater for supplying water to crops. Spain, along with much of Southern Europe, is expected to become drier as a result of climate change.

Elsewhere, waste water from irrigated crops is being captured and treated separately to avoid contaminating other water sources with agricultural chemicals. Even in the UK, which is forecast to become wetter, excessive rains in recent years have led to cases of pollution from run-off. In 2012, metaldehyde run-off led to breaches of water quality regulations in parts of Northern, Central and Eastern England. The molluscicide cannot be removed from water.

Across India, the Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR) regenerates watershed communities by harvesting rain water, organizing communities to sustainably manage the land, optimising irrigation, and planting crops based on water availability. WOTR is estimated to have played a part in rejuvenating 200,000 hectares of land.

As UNESCO recommended on Friday, in order for agriculture, energy producers and citizens to adapt to patterns of sustainable water use local changes will be needed, such as those seen in farming systems, alongside more fundamental developments, including efforts to see that water is valued differently and better understood.