The capacity to provide an adequate potable water supply to its populace by governments across the globe is proving to be increasingly challenging as the demand surges through a swelling global population, increasing urbanisation and the drying up of fresh water sources.

With the world’s population continuing to grow, adding as many as 3 billion more people to the current population of 6 billion by 2050, there is obvious reason for serious concern about the ability of known water supplies to support such increases even at the inadequate levels of per capita supply that we currently have around the world.

Added to the problem of global growth is rapid urbanisation in developing countries. The United Nations has predicted that 19 of the world’s 25 mega cities (more than 10 million inhabitants) will be in the developing world by 2025. This urbanization will exacerbate the potable water supply problem because dense populations increase the complexity and cost of water supply and sanitation, often to levels beyond the financial ability of many cities. (Source: Peter Rogers Drinking Water for All: A 21st Century Challenge)

More than 1 billion people are denied the right to clean water and 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. These statistics, taken from the ‘Human Development Report 2006’ by the United Nations Development Program, highlight the extent of the global water crisis. It is Mono Pump’s goal to play a part in bringing water to every human being. A huge challenge but one we feel adequately equipped to face.

In developing countries nearly all surface water is contaminated and therefore not ‘safe drinking water’. The most commonly used ‘safe’ water source is from underground boreholes with some form of pump required to remove water from a borehole. In order to use the surface water it must be treated to remove the contamination, the Mono Solar Filtration system will remove the viral bacteria and colloidal contamination along with any suspended solids (Source: Mono pumps newsletter)

Discussions about potable water supplies around the world are usually framed as catastrophe scenarios, built around a set of seemingly incontrovertible facts: growing populations, rapid urban growth in poor countries, climate change and lack of proper governance.

Here in Guyana the government is working feverishly to meet provide an adequate supply of potable water across the country, having inherited a water supply system which was on the verge of collapse resulting in severe water woes across the country. While the problem has not been fully solved, undoubtedly there has been significant improvement in the water sector with scores of communities which previously were not a getting single drop of water are now getting a reasonable supply of potable water.

And the prospects of further improvements in many other communities are now brighter with the signing of massive contracts for potable water supply projects. Most recently over $107M in contracts have been signed for projects in Lusignan on the East Coast Demerara and the Diamond/Grove on the East Bank Demerara which will benefit some 10,000 residents. This of course is in addition to several other massive projects which have been completed or are ongoing and these include those at Cooriverton, New Amsterdam, Lethem and Vergenoegen to name a few, while several others are to come on stream.

Unfortunately, some cynics continue that this government has done and is not doing anything for the people of this country. What they fail to acknowledge is that with the multiplicity of problems inherited by this government with scarce resources it is impossible to all of Guyana’s problems simultaneously. But its record irrefutably demonstrates its commitment towards addressing the needs of the people.

However, while improving the water supply is most laudable at the same time it is equally important to improve the management of the water sector as there is too much wastage of water through broken mains and taps being left on etc.

Peter Rogers notes: “Increasingly we see that the major problem of water supply for existing populations lies in the lack of effective governance by national and local governments. This was the major theme expressed in the recent U.N. Development Programme Human Development report, Water for Life. Governance does not mean just the institutions themselves, but functioning institutions with effective interactions among civil society, politicians, and nongovernmental organizations. Lack of effective governance and institutions is not confined to developing countries; it is often the source of misallocations of water and financial resources in the developed world as well.”