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Water and the New Urban Agenda

One of the mega trends in developing countries across Africa and Asia-Pacific is urbanization. Along with economic growth and impacts of climate change, all of this contributes to high degree of competition for water and increased demand for water related infrastructure.  Consequently, water and sanitation allocation within urban areas and different sectors with proper governance system is critical for economic growth and poverty reduction. It is not only the proper distribution of water but also governing social and economic benefits that are generated by water resources such as food, energy, water supply and sanitation services.

For decades, cities have become trading point and innovations hubs for the production of goods and services. According to United Nations in 2014 approximately 54 % of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and nearly half of these urban dwellers live in quite small settlements of less than 500,000 residents. It’s projected by 2050 there will be 2.5 billion more people in urban areas, with nearly 90% percent of the increase expected in African and Asia.

The population growth in Asia-Pacific urban areas is approximately 2.3 % per year, and in the coming years, the fast-expanding cities will face significant levels of water shortage and reduced levels of water resources such as food, energy and industry sectors. There are land use changes as more land is required for developing new infrastructures for the sprawling cities resulting in uncontrolled land encroachment, depleting water resources at outskirts of towns and high pollution from rising industries and domestic wastewater, which most of it is untreated. Surface and groundwater are steadily being exploited, causing shortage situations and loss of the ecosystem. If businesses continuous as usual together with increased urbanization in Asia-pacific cities there will be increased levels of water insecurity situations leading to sharp competition and conflicts between water user groups, urban and rural areas and countries sharing same water resources. The same situation is also expected to be experienced in African continent where similar problems are faced because of parallel urbanization, especially in arid and semi-arid parts of the region.

It is important that countries and cities invest more in water infrastructure to enable proper governance as a means of unlocking financing for urban water projects, institutional strengthening and support reuse and recycling of waste water and other water-saving technologies. To solve urban water-related challenges (like lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation) and reap from them it is important to address allocation and reallocation of water resources far from cities’ watersheds. Since many cities are growing beyond their watersheds and looking for inter-basin water surfaces to secure adequate water for its population. The focus should now be on the “problem-shed” as a way of addressing solutions.

Urban challenges have become a global concern, receiving much attention at the international level. The New Urban Agenda, which is squarely embedded with water, has successfully been adopted by the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Developments, commonly known as Habitat III , which was held on 17-20th October 2016 in Quito, Ecuador. The conference also addressed other commitments to urban water management and services. To effectively manage water resources it will require proper governance and sound management of water and related services within and outside urban space. The new urban agenda is committed to coming up with new integrated urban projects that will ensure there is equitable access to water and sanitation services.