The Struggle for Water

Hi everyone and welcome to the interview and analysis corner! This week, I wanted to address the worrying rise in water shortages across the world and provide a small, but no less frustrated, voice amidst a sea of chaotic information. Let’s dig in.

I remember a while back when Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, a former chairman and CEO of Nestlé, declared that the idea of water being a public right “was a little extreme”.

And while most of us scoffed at the arrogance of such a statement, one reality that is becoming increasingly evident is that today’s global water supply is facing some tremendous shocks.

The Situation

While last week’s brilliant analysis piece by Megan Dewhirst characterised the dire drought situation in the traditional wine industry, there are even more examples of countries that have struggled for water in recent months.

The mayor of Colombia’s capital – Bogota – recently announced new water rationing measures, that would affect around nine million people, and fines of up to $300 for people who wash their cars on the street.

Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have now all declared national emergencies due to droughts that have decimated livestock and shrivelled crops.

California – a place which seems to always be struggling for water – has seen a first-of-its-kind mandatory fee placed on water pumping by farmers in the Tulare Lake area, a key crop-growing region for the state and the nation.

Even the Spanish government has declared a state of emergency as it faces its worst drought on record, banning people in the south of the country from filling up empty swimming pools.

In fact, according to the World Resources Institute, around four billion people are already facing “high” water stress for at least one month a year.

El Niño

Even though I would be the first person to scream “IT’S MAN-MADE” when referring to a global water shortage, in this case that is not necessarily true.

El Niño - a natural climate pattern that warms surface waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean – occurs every two-to-seven years and is responsible for both mass flooding and drought events simultaneously.

The weather pattern has undoubtedly had a huge effect on the world’s apocalyptic-looking landscape but, until the phenomenon comes to an end, we won’t truly know the extent to which humans have caused the recent drought and heavy rainfall. 

What Scares Me

But, whether it’s El Niño or the human mismanagement of our climate, the aforementioned recent, drought-related events have made it abundantly clear that humanity is woefully unprepared for a water crisis.

Cocoa and coffee futures have broken numerous records due to drought-related shortages and beef prices are at unreal levels since the global supply of cattle has struggled to maintain its water consumption.

Food inflation has become a tremendous burden on the consumer, in part, because food production has not been able to weather the supply chain shocks, caused by water’s limited availability.

With less water, crops will fail, livestock will struggle to survive and our globalised system of mono-cropping will certainly be threatened.

Focus On Resilience

In such a situation, we cannot continue to gamble our agricultural future on the turbulence caused by frequent weather phenomena. Farming culture must prepare for the worst, whatever that may look like.

And, while we have stumbled at the first hurdle, by focusing on creating systems that can be resilient in the face of turbulence there may be a way out.

Farmers can rotate certain crops that are vulnerable to heat, like corn, with ones that are more heat resistant, like millet, making soil more nutrient dense and stronger when water shortages loom.

And, amidst current water shortages, having insurance and social safety nets for those who produce our food will also help farmers gain the confidence to adapt to a world that is changing faster than we can predict.

Ultimately, however, it is not the cause of the water crisis that is the issue anymore, but rather the way in which the global society deals with it that will determine the price and existence of our food.