• Water is a renewable resource fulfilling multiple functions

Water is a renewable resource that fulfils multiple functions. Yet we often use it non-renewably, and we treat its many functions in isolated and singular fashion. In contrast to the fragmented sectoral and administrative structures and jurisdictions that characterize society, water flows through the landscape where it 'lubricates' both the natural and social components of the Earth. Through this flow, and through the manipulation of it, the basic needs and wants of people are possible to satisfy. Water's vital role for the environment and humans is linked to five main functions (Falkenmark and Lundqvist, 1995):

1. maintaining human health : clean water is essential for maintaining human health;
2. maintaining environmental health: the health of aquatic ecosystems is essential for fish/seafood supply, is a major determinant of biodiversity, and provides for many other vital goods and services;
3. supporting two production functions : a) biomass production, necessary for the supply of food, fuel wood and timber; and b) economic production, since industrial development has traditionally been "lubricated" by easy access to water;
4. supporting two carrier functions : a) water plays an active role in diluting and transpiration wastes; and b) in the natural erosion and land processes of the global water cycle;
5. Psychological function, which makes water bodies, water views, fountains and so on fundamental components of human preferences and desires. Water also plays a role in many religions and cultural activities.

There is no such thing as a global water problem - all problems manifest themselves at smaller scales. For example, at the global average level, there is sufficient water to meet the needs and wants of every human being. At the continental level, per capita water availability still seems more than adequate, though large regional disparities appear. In Europe, each million cubic meters of water available per year is "shared" by over 150 people, on average, while in South America only 25 people must share that much water. Comparisons with Asia show even more extreme differences The figures are, however, elusive in terms of real problems in various continents. The situation in Africa, for instance, is significantly different from the situation in Europe although availability figures are at the same level.
   
Growing scarcity at the regional and local levels indicates imbalances between overall availability and growth in need and demands. These imbalances will have implications far outside the areas under stress. An important example is the issue of food production. If more and more countries do not have sufficient amounts of water to grow the food that they need, the deficit must be covered from somewhere else. And there must be arrangements, agreements and institutions capable of (i) creating a surplus large enough to cover the growing regional and local deficits, (ii) providing logistical capacity and procedures for the actual transfer of food and other essentials from surplus to deficit regions, including the poor, and (iii) guaranteeing a political commitment to transfer food to deficit areas and the poor, even if people in these areas do not have the means to provide their own supply.

• Make water a "first thing" in development strategies

Water resources must now be recognized as a major determining factor for socio-economic development (UNCNR, 1996). During the period when human demands on water were low and when hydrological cycle behavior and the climate were thought to be fairly predictable, water was the last thing to be considered in the development decision-making process, if it was considered at all. In the past hydrologists and water managers tended to concentrate on gathering scientific knowledge about the hydrological cycle, paying little attention to socio-economic and environmental values, to the point that most development activities naturally assumed that there would always be water available for projects
   
Today, due to the increasing pressures on water resources and the recognised variability of the hydrological cycle and the climate, the position of water in the decision-making process has been completely reversed (G. Matthwes, personal communication). Now, water must become the one of the first things to be considered in the context of development and security objectives, including the day-to-day management of water allocation for socio-economic activities and the preservation of natural resource capital. It is now imperative that decision-makers in all sectors, and particularly those responsible for socio-economic planning, financial analysis and security, make development decisions with explicit attention to water resources.
  
It is now imperative that decision-makers in all sectors, and particularly those responsible for socio-economic planning, financial analysis and security, make development decisions with explicit attention to water resources.