WATER
Yearbook 2022
I Water sector a key player in managing climate change
ncreasing evidence suggests that unsustainable water and wastewater management is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Much more can be done by people who have the great responsibility for the management of water resources at the local, regional, or national level.
Managing water to reduce methane emissions
It is time the world wakes up to the pivotal role of improved water management in achieving Paris Agreement goals, Water Policy Group consultant Anthony Slatyer says 62 infrastructurenews.co.nz
Did you know that poorly managed wastewater is estimated to produce up to around 9% of humancaused global methane emissions? Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Better management of effluent can greatly reduce these emissions while also providing economic, health, gender equality, environmental, and human
rights benefits, and it can provide clean energy recovered from wastewater. With such immense benefits, it is shameful that 3.6 billion people still lack safely managed sanitation services. The added advantage of reducing methane emissions could finally tip the scales in favor of the imperative policy reforms and investments to get safe sanitation to all people by 2030, as promised under Sustainable Development Goal 6. Now is the time for the world to get serious about sanitation. Did you know that a similar percentage of methane emissions come from paddy farming using ponded water? Methane emissions from rice paddies can be mitigated by better management of water in these fields. The benefit of reducing
