PRESIDENT’S COLUMN MAY 2010
8.05.2010 MORE IMBALANCES: The floods plaguing various parts of the planet confuse us about the availability of water on Earth. We actually face another distributional imbalance, similar to that of climate and wealth. Such imbalances produce tragic problems. . 
Planet Earth is Blue, with more water than land. 97% is salt water in the oceans, and of the remaining 3% , 69.6% is in solid form in glaciers and polar ice caps; 30.1% in aquifer; leaving only 0.3% as fresh surface water in rivers and lakes.
The impression is that the water cycle should be balanced and that total mass a constant; but man again affects the performance of the cycle. Water used to provide food for a world population increasing by 83 million persons is a growing consumption problem.
In most countries, the rate of consumption of water from the aquifers is higher than groundwater recharge. The imbalances in water consumption are dramatic: 380 liters per person per day in the U.S. to less than 19 per day in poor countries, where 46% of the population has no running water supply.
In sub-Saharan Africa, women walk miles to fetch water in drums from the nearest river. Such water is often not free of contamination. Poor hygiene causes health problems. 50% to 70% of cases treated at health centers in these countries relate to bacterial diarrhea. In many health centers water supply is not guaranteed. Droughts - such as those Africa is suffering this season - cause water shortages, and sanitary hygiene remains an issue.
NGOs like ‘Water Aid’ do what they can, repairing wells abandoned for lack of maintenance, promoting the sanitation of water, creating elevated reservoirs to deliver water to the most destitute. Continuity of projects undertaken have to be ensured by education of the population and the organization of local committees to take responsibility.
Despite the floods in some parts of the world, other areas have real water shortage problems. A report in the National Geographic issue of April 2010, prompted me to remember - how AEIH , at its Congress 2009 in Santiago, focused on the use and management of water in healthcare premises, from many points of view. One of them was sustainable usage and recycling, since water is becoming a resource with an uncertain future and decreasing availability.
If we recognize problems in our own environment, imagine how much more acute it is in less developed countries where scarcity of this precious recourse is always followed by lack of food.
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