LANXESS CEO Dr. Axel C. Heitmann: High and Dry

Ever since the French explorer Henri Mouhot’s travel notes describing the spectacular Khmer temple complex of Angkor Wat were posthumously published in 1863, historians, anthropologists and amateurs alike have delighted in concocting theories that purport to explain its mysterious downfall. Now, new evidence suggests that Angkor’s demise was inextricably linked to the collapse of its elaborate and extensive water system.

The engineers of Angkor were skilled enough to create a hydraulic system capable of supporting a huge city of more than a million people in the heart of Southeast Asia. However, their leaders ultimately failed to recognize the dangers that increased population pressure was exerting on their infrastructure network.

Today, with a world population estimated to reach 9 billion in 2040, we may be teetering on the brink of a series of similar catastrophic breakdowns.

Underpriced and overused, with demand predicted to outpace population growth and a world system that already fails to deliver basic water services and facilities to more than two billion people, if water continues to be managed as it is today, the future may be bleak.

It is a well-known statistic that water covers nearly three-quarters of the earth’s surface. However, 97 percent of all the water on our planet is seawater. Of the remaining 3 percent of fresh water, about 80 percent is bound up in the polar icecaps. Groundwater, river and lake water make up the principal sources available for human use, adding up to less than one percent of the water on earth. Therefore, although water is ubiquitous, the usable portion is tiny.

Forecasters predict that continued water misallocation and waste will induce declines in global agricultural production, trigger intense competition for water between nations and economic sectors, and drain the world’s major life-sustaining rivers dry. Estimates show that 20 years from today, global water demand will have risen 40 percent from the present – and as much as 50 percent in developing countries. These statistics appear even more sobering in light of the clear limitations of our current governance institutions to properly manage systemic risks and address global challenges, as witnessed by the financial crisis of 2008.

Thus, considerably more time and more thought must be devoted to the question of how to make the best use of the very limited amount of freshwater that is actually available to us. Without rethinking our approach to water, redesigning relevant governance and regulatory systems and rebuilding public trust in key institutions, we will diminish our chances of successfully managing the looming water crisis and other global risks.

To produce success, however, this vital reassessment of leadership capabilities must then result in transformative advances in such essential practices as recycling and reuse of water, preventing water pollution, removing pollutants from contaminated water, and purifying existing water resources.

Technology plays a central role in all of these processes. Dedicated and highly trained scientists and engineers will continue to take the lead in developing cost-effective and scalable technological solutions to meet the world’s present and future water needs.

We have already seen some significant achievements.

Worldwide, more than 13,000 desalination plants are now producing more than 45 billion liters of freshwater a day through vacuum distillation and, more recently, reverse osmosis membrane processes.

Advanced ion exchange resins and arsenic absorbers, used to purify existing water sources, play a key part in water softening, demineralization and the decontamination of drinking and process water.

New, large-scale, long-distance water transport projects are demonstrating that existing techniques and technology can make it possible to move water to where it is needed most, with minimal waste.

Ongoing refinements of current technologies will continue to make them more practical for deployment in developing countries. However, on their own, they are still insufficient.

The world needs to support the research and development initiatives that will generate innovative, breakthrough technologies to meet the water needs of a rapidly industrializing and urbanizing world. It is essential that the private sector work in collaboration with governments, academia and multilateral institutions to develop a comprehensive approach that combines affordable technology with sound and sustainable water management practices and regimes.

Last year at the World Economic Forum here in Davos, it was encouraging to see water rise to the top of the global agenda and serve as the focus of numerous sessions, as world leaders began to explore the methods and mechanisms that will make water use more efficient.

If we are to prevent a global catastrophe, a more drastic reorientation of the global water dialogue will have to take place. We are going to have to set aside all theoretical debate, because it is clear that we are facing an immediate and pressing crisis. We must focus all of our talk and all of our energy on the concrete specifics of how we are going to solve the water problem.

One thing is plain – it will be impossible to solve it without the technological expertise of the innovative engineers hard at work in today’s chemical industry. They are already deploying a broad range of specialty chemicals and products across the globe, making billions of gallons of water available to nourish the people, crops and economies of the world.

We are still far from surmounting all the obstacles that lie ahead. Nevertheless, we will continue to develop the advanced technologies we need to use water more efficiently, more sustainably and more responsibly than ever before. The future of our world is at stake, and we are up to the challenge.

Dr. Axel Claus Heitmann, CEO, LANXESS AG