Editorial in DTU's magazine Dynamo by President Anders O. Bjarklev
At DTU, we have many highly specialized researchers with expertise in water treatment and protection. They collaborate with the entire water sector and with industry to gather knowledge and develop technological solutions that promote better management of our shared water resources.
This task is highly critical, as water is essential to our health, our competitiveness, and the resilience of society as a whole. It’s all about our survival.
For even though Earth is a blue planet, freshwater is a scarce resource that accounts for only three percent of the planet’s total water supply, and according to the UN, only 0.5 per cent of Earth’s freshwater is usable and accessible to us.
Fresh water is in high demand, and this will only increase. And those scarce drops of water are further threatened by pollution and climate change. Around the world, several major cities have already come close to Day Zero Drought—that is, the first day without a single drop of water coming out of the taps. New research shows that entire regions—including the Mediterranean, South Africa, and North America—face a high risk of Day Zero Drought in the near future, meaning the first day without any water at all as a result of drought.
Even in Denmark, we are feeling the effects of these challenges. Surprisingly, we are among the European countries with the greatest water scarcity. Not because of a drought, but because of high consumption. We simply use a significantly larger share of our water resources than, for example, Germany, France, and Sweden.
That is why we must continue to work on how to best manage our water resources. Perhaps it is not sustainable for us to use our clean drinking water to flush our toilets and wash our cars. Perhaps we can improve our methods for treating wastewater or industrial process water for reuse. We should also be more ambitious in protecting our groundwater from pollution.
Today, we can turn on the taps and draw water in abundance. It is a precious asset that we must strive to pass on to our descendants.
