International Expo "Water and Sustainable Development"
Water tribune
“We are in a world with Human Rights, so why do we have to subsidise water for the economy?”
Pedro Arrojo can not avoid talking about the economy when he refers to water – as is demonstrated by his paper “The new water and sustainability culture versus the new challenges presented by the XXI century”, published in the collection Words for Water
Water is a basic survival right and this must be its principal use. After this, it can be used in order to fulfil citizens’ rights and only in the last instance can it serve the economy. This is the order that Pedro Arrojo gives to water use, not forgetting that – from the very first moment – this use must be sustainable.
The New Water Culture is an expression that summarises the scientific standpoints that – though they gained notoriety for the fight against the large water works planned under the National Water Plan – now wish to return clean water to the rivers and people.
Pedro Arrojo states that the first step to achieving this is through a change in mentality. The world’s population must be equal in all the basics – we all have the same rights. He denounces, on the one hand, that globalisation only grants rights to money while, on the other hand, water is subsidised for the economy and not for consumption – where it can not be afforded.
The paper published by Arrojo in Words for water starts off from a well-known fact: 1,100 million people around the world have no access to drinking water. Then, he explained: “These people do not die of thirst, but, rather, they die from the pollution in the water that they do consume”. Thus, it is a resource that is poorly shared and, additionally, it is polluted.
Apart from water being a Human Right, Pedro Arrojo spoke of the change of focus brought about by the Water Framework Directive in terms of water management: that it should no longer be considered a resource, but should be viewed as part of an ecosystem. Passed in 2000, the European countries have until 2015 to modify their policies and, thus, fulfil this Directive. One of the objectives that it imposes is the recovery of the state of the water in the rivers – and it seems that its effects are noticeable. Pedro Arrojo used the example of the Ebro which is less polluted than it was ten years ago because the European Directive has obliged the water returned to the river to be cleansed first. However, what seems to be a change towards an ecological perspective is, according to Arrojo, practical British-style economics: there is awareness that the goose that lays golden eggs can not be mistreated – it is bad business.
In this way, in the Water Tribune Pavilion, Pedro Arrojo summarised his paper “The new water and sustainability culture versus the new challenges presented by the XXI century". It would be incisive to state that that the crises in water, inequality and poverty can be solved through participatory governance which guarantees water and sanitation in a sustainable way. These are his words for water.
