 Water Quality
Growing demands for water and increased pollution loads threaten the quality of many lakes, rivers, estuaries and groundwater bodies around the world. Water quality degradation can pose serious threats to public health, agricultural and industrial production, ecological functions, and biodiversity. Water quality is expected to grow in importance in the future as population rises and economies grow. Water quality management, and the associated unmet demand for urban environmental infrastructure, is a major challenge in the light of urbanization. Water quality problems can arise from high concentration of naturally occurring elements such as arsenic, fluoride, or selenium. But most water quality problems are caused by the discharge of pollutants from human activities. Pollution sources include point sources—specific points of discharge of high-pollutant concentration—and nonpoint sources—low-concentration sources covering a large area. Point source discharges from sewers, wastewater treatment plants, and factories are visible and can be chemically characterized relatively easily. Historically, they have been the focus of efforts to control surface water pollution in both developed and developing countries. However, substantial loads of pollutants can also enter water bodies from nonpoint sources, such as fertilizer use for agriculture. |
Key Challenges
The continuous deterioration in water quality in most developing countries compounds the relative scarcity of water. Again, it is the poorest countries and poorest people who are most directly affected.
Most countries face huge needs for investments in water quality improvements, primarily in environmentally sound agriculture to reduce runoff into rivers, and in urban wastewater treatment. Investments have to be sequenced based on the twin considerations of the costs incurred and benefits accrued in terms of improved downstream water quality. Investments have to be in line with local demand, and local institutional and financial capacity. An improved and customized understanding of water quality issues in specific basins is required, so that the benefits from often costly interventions are assessed in terms of the contribution to overall basin water quality. The setting of water quality standards is the responsibility of river basin authorities and other public water resources management agencies. Water users depend on the availability of a reliable quantity of good quality water. Thus, water quality management requires close coordination between water resources bodies and utilities and farmers. | Back to Top | World Bank Response
The World Bank has been involved in water quality issues for several decades, through investments in sanitation, wastewater treatment and disposal, drainage projects, and, more recently, in some nutrient control programs. Integration of water quality management issues is reflected in the environmental objectives of the 1993 World Bank policy paper on Water Resources Management (pdf). |
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Water Quality: Assessment and Protection
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