Water security has become a significant concern in Asia-Pacific (APAC). According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), around 2 billion people in the region lack access to an adequate water supply or sanitation¹; a situation exacerbated by climate change – which has induced more frequent and severe droughts, storms and floods – and the region’s industrial and agricultural practices.

Freshwater use is one of the nine planetary boundaries² that has already been breached in a number of regions across the world. These planetary boundaries are scientifically proven to define a safe and stable global environment for life. In Asia-Pacific, freshwater overuse is contributing to water security concerns.

With APAC’s water resources coming under growing pressure, the clock is ticking for governments in the region to increase their cooperative efforts to tackle pollution, improve sanitation, and ensure people have safe drinking water. More needs to be done to harness the strengths of the scientific community and encourage private investment, with favourable government regulation acting as a catalyst for positive change.

Urgent action needed

In APAC, the overuse of agricultural chemicals, including fertilisers and pesticides, has contributed significantly to the degradation of water quality. Meanwhile, industrial activity, particularly that related to the mining, metals, paper and pulp, textiles, and food and beverage sectors, has also become a prominent source of water pollution³ and led to the over-extraction of freshwater, now an increasingly scarce resource.

Around 80% of wastewater in Asia is discharged without treatment, according to the ADB⁴. In China, for example, up to 90% of the country's groundwater is contaminated by toxic human and industrial waste dumping, along with agricultural fertilisers, rendering approximately 70% of rivers and lakes unsafe for human use. India, meanwhile, faces a mounting sewage treatment challenge. As the country’s population climbs, greater pressure is being placed on its public water infrastructure, with over 70% of sewage remaining untreated⁵.
 

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Urgent action is needed. In South Asia, 347 million children under 18 are exposed to high, or extremely high, water scarcity, more than anywhere else in the world, according to UNICEF⁶. Poor water quality, lack of water sources, extreme weather and mismanagement are to blame, the group says.

Plastic waste is another growing problem, clogging up rivers and filling waterways with potentially harmful microplastics. Close to 88 per cent of the world’s plastic pollution comes from rivers in Asia, which carry about eight million metric tonnes of plastic debris every year⁷.  

At Lombard Odier, we believe we must move from an extractive economy to a regenerative, nature-positive economy. Instead of exhausting our planet’s finite resources we must harness nature’s ability to create self-sustaining value.
 

When it comes to the world’s water resources, we need to examine solutions for improving efficiency of distribution, water quality, and protecting key water bodies to avoid scarcity of supply. To achieve this, we must rethink the economic activities that underpin the degradation of our aquatic system, and transition from today’s wasteful, harmful model, to a circular bio-economy that preserves and restores clean, plentiful water supply, and recognises the environmental and economic imperative of sustainable water usage.

Stemming the tide

To help tackle the problem and encourage innovation, government regulations and policies have been intensifying across APAC. For example, recent years have seen China introduce its Water Ten Plan, aiming to reduce water pollution, promote water conservation and improve water quality across the country. The government also incorporated water security measures into its five-year plan (FYP) for 2021-25, the first FYP for water security at the national level⁸.

In India, city and regional governments are taking a lead. In 2021, for instance, Chennai became the first city in the country to recycle its wastewater at scale to meet industrial needs⁹. Vietnam, meanwhile – where the Mekong Delta is facing challenges related to increased use of fertilisers and pesticides – is prioritising sustainable intensification of agricultural production to boost food output without a concomitant increase in environmental harm.

Read on about Japan’s net-zero strategy.  

Joined-up thinking: wider collaboration needed

Much more needs to be done, however. Governments have recently been urged by humanitarian groups to work together more closely to reduce pollution and improve water supply and storage¹⁰.

This is particularly important for countries that share water resources such as rivers and lakes, where collaboration can help make data gathering more accurate so as to better understand groundwater resources and their recharge potential, with a view to detecting groundwater depletion earlier. Collaboration is also essential to tackle pollution entering river systems and improve water treatment processes.

Private sector innovation

Government action alone won’t be sufficient, however, and must be complemented by private sector investment. The ADB estimates that APAC will need to invest USD 800 billion in water infrastructure between 2016 and 2030 to continue its economic and population growth trajectory, alleviate poverty and respond to climate change¹¹.

Strides have already been made in tackling pollution and soil contamination. For example, organic fertilisers are increasingly being used as an alternative to chemical fertilisers, which leech harmful chemicals into the soil and groundwater. Organic fertilisers are naturally occurring sources of minerals and contain only small amounts of plant and animal waste, helping to protect soil and groundwater. The market for organic fertilisers is expected to grow substantially¹², but scale-up will take time.

Water quality monitoring is also improving, including the measurement of organic load and the detection and treatment of toxic substances ¹³. Some places are also seeing an increased emphasis on developing water infrastructure that is resilient to extreme weather events brought on by climate change, an innovation that could save thousands of lives every year ¹⁴.

Desalinisation is another area that may be ripe for innovation. Saline groundwater intrusion plagues vast stretches of Asia, rendering water sources unsafe for consumption¹⁵. In conjunction with tackling pollution, desalinisation could, in theory, provide significant extra volumes of drinkable water. For this to be achieved, however, innovation and investment will be needed, as the process is currently too expensive and energy-intensive to become a central part of the solution¹⁶.

Find out about measuring impact in APAC

Looking past national differences

The quality of water varies across Asia, complicating efforts to analyse and address pollution. Some countries, such as India and China, have made strides in tackling pollution, cleaning up their water supply, and establishing monitoring systems – while others lag due to insufficient investment, knowhow and data. In short, more needs to be done and, with climate change adding further pressure to already stressed water supplies, time is running out.

Though geopolitical issues remain a divisive focal point in the region, governments must work together in the spirit of shared responsibility to encourage private investment, foster innovation and ensure nobody is left without access to clean water.

At Lombard Odier, we believe the companies that are developing or providing water solutions – whose products and services meet the challenges of distribution efficiency, quality maintenance, and preservation of supply – are best-placed to capture future demand and provide attractive investment opportunities.

As innovative new opportunities to protect our water resources arise, the thread common to all will be that healthy ecosystems are worth far more than degraded ones, and that we will maximise economic value not by exploitation, but through cooperation with natures.

¹ Water (adb.org)
² Planetary boundaries (stockholmresilience.org)
³ What are the main challenges to water quality in Asia? (envirotech-online.com)
⁴ Wastewater Management and Sanitation in Asia and the Pacific (adb.org)
⁵ The world has a water pollution problem. Here’s how innovation can help solve it. (weforum.org)
⁶  South Asia has highest number of children exposed to severe water scarcity – UNICEF. Available here.
⁷ River Pollution: The Dark Waters of Asia (asiangeo.com)
⁸ China unveils plan to safeguard water security (english.news.cn)
⁹ The world has a water pollution problem. Here’s how innovation can help solve it (weforum.org)
¹⁰ How public-private partnerships can drive innovations in water efficiency and sustainability (weforum.org)
¹¹ Meeting Asia’s infrastructure needs (adb.org)
¹² Organic Fertilizers Market to Experience Substantial Growth (globalnewswire.com)
¹³ What are the main challenges to water quality in Asia? (envirotech-online.com)^1
14 Water – at the center of the climate crisis (un.org)
¹⁵ India announces construction of largest desalination plant in Asia (envirotech-online.com)
¹⁶ Liquid assets (lombardodier.com)