The Ingenieur Vol 57 January-March 2014 The Ingenieur Vol 57 January-March 2014 | Page 7

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Managing Water

T

he balance between increasing water
demand and available fresh water sources
is a major concern for most regions,
particularly in the water scare areas. Water,
although a renewable natural resource, and
available fresh water supply rather constant, its
distribution is variable over regions and periods,
made worse by climate change. Water demand
on the other hand is rising in proportion to
population growth, industrial development, new
affluent lifestyle and agriculture use.
The subject of water as an important
element for sustainable development remains
one of the top agenda in forums of international
organisations. The UN Summit on Climate
Change in 2009 named water scarcity along with
energy security, biodiversity loss and ecosystem
destruction among the critical areas where new
ideas, institutional mechanisms and financial
arrangements are necessary to counteract a
wide range of global sustainable issues.
A