Webinare IIEA / The Future of Water: Opportunity and Risk

Monday February 1st, Loïc Fauchon, President of the World Water Council, participated in the webinar “The Future of Water: Opportunity and risk”, organized by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ireland.
This event was followed by more than 300 people worldwide. Find the video of it, read the speech, and scroll through questions and answers to Loïc Fauchon below.

During this webinar, Mr.  Fauchon explained that water security is an emergency and a major challenge for the 21st century. He also highlighted that public policies should be ready to implement the right to water for all and guarantee the five basic needs of an ever-growing population.

Why are we worried? Probably because we consider, we feel, even if some of you are not water experts, we feel confused that water is in DANGER!
And if water is in danger, then Man and Nature are also in danger.
Why is this? Because today's world is experiencing crisis after crisis. And these crises are creating very strong tensions all around our planet. They are so many political crises, military tensions, nuclear alerts and diplomatic tensions. But we are also experiencing food and health crises, as well as great demographic tension within the framework of climate transition. And these crises are causing environmental degradation and economic difficulties.
So, here is the full picture. And of course, energy and water have become scarce resources, both in quantity and quality, in only a few decades, causing great concern and tensions. […]

To live in a fairer world which is sustainable in the long term, we need two elements:
first, give access to development opportunities and second, protect nature. To do that, we need to act with mutual respect and find a sustainable balance between the use of our coveted natural resources and a duty to protect them. […]

Very concretely, water security needs to combine technological solutions and political will. We can translate this as the strengthening of the three pillars on which the universal water house is built. These three pillars are: knowledge, finance and governance.", explained Loïc Fauchon.

> Read more about Loïc Fauchon’s speech in English / in French

Watch the full webinar IIEA with Loïc Fauchon

Here are some questions answers to Loïc Fauchon post webinare :

5/ Given that about 60% of water used in occupied buildings is for toilets/WCs, why use water treated for human consumption to flush waste away ie., water which never touches humans in normal use? Given the mis-management of water resources over decades in Ireland, would Loic Fauchon and Laura Burke call for our building codes to make it mandatory for all new developments (including extensions to domestic residences) to use grey water/harvested rain water for toilets? As other places do this, we do not have to re-invent anything. All we have to do is apply lessons/techniques/systems developed elsewhere here.

It is true that there are many different ways and techniques to supply treated and untreated water for different uses. But the first approach that we recommend is to optimize the existing system by chasing water waste at any step of the water cycle : captation, storage, and above all supply network system and household leaks. And you are right to say that we all need to learn from other people’s solution. It is the major purpose of the next World Water Forum, to be held in Dakar in March 2021." Loïc Fauchon

6/ Does Loic favour a decentralised approach to the delivery of water services?

Yes, as mentioned in the speech there are 3 different levels of efficient decision-making : The State and Parliamentarians, for Law and budget as major decisions are politic, the Water Basin Area for the responsibility to share water resources and water budget with equity between the different uses and invest for water quality - and the local authorities to guarantee wasteless and high quality water supply to consumers.

> Download the 34 questions/answers to Loïc Fauchon post webinare

> Find the 4 questions/answers to Loïc Fauchon in live, from minuts 34' 

> Read the article published by The Irish Times "Absence of water charges ‘a rarity’, says World Water Council chief", by Kevin O'Sullivan

> More informations about IIEA