Water is the raw material of life. There is no substitute. It makes up 75 per cent of our body mass. But of all the water on the planet, more than 97 per cent is salt water, and less than 3 per cent is fresh. Of that 3 per cent, about 0.3 per cent is contained in lakes and rivers, with the polar ice caps, glaciers and permanent snow accounting for more than 69 per cent. About 0.9 per cent is attributable to soil moisture, swamp water and permafrost. The rest comes from natural underground sources, ground water.

The world has seen a six-fold increase in water usage since 1900, and the demand for fresh water is increasing at twice the population growth. Within 25 years, the world's population will increase from six billion to eight billion.

We know what works; we have the systems and the research. The capacity is there. What we cannot seem to do is organise the political will to unleash the creative capacity to do the job.

Some 23 million people worldwide die each year because of unsafe water. Three-quarters of all diseases are connected to bad hygiene and unsafe water. Pesticide pollution carried by water increases the dangers and puts even more people at risk. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation reports that Colombian flower growers and orchard tenders in Brazil use 10 times as much pesticide as necessary; more than half the spraying equipment in Indonesia leaks; and Pakistan's farmers waste about half their pesticides, which leads to ground-waste pollution.

In the 1990s, the poor in South Africa spent three hours each day hauling water from its source to their homes. In a typical middle-class household among member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, people can pay for a day's water with one or two minutes' work.

That is the bad news. Here is the good news. Access to good water in developing countries has increased from 30 per cent in 1970 to 80 per cent in 2000. The World Watch Institute's studies show that up to 90 per cent of water could be saved at no additional cost to industry.

Irrigation accounts for two-thirds of global use of fresh water, but less than half that actually reaches the roots of plants. Drip irrigation systems, practised in some rich and poor countries, have shown positive results, with a consistent reduction in water waste of 30-70 per cent, while increasing yields by 20-90 per cent, according to Sandra Postel in her book Pillar of Sand.

Some rice farmers in an area of Malaysia increased water productivity by 45 per cent by shoring up canals and switching from traditional transplanting methods to direct sowing of seeds.

Efficiency is another word for conservation. Only the rich can invest in technology and research such as genetic engineering to produce crops that are more salt resistant and use less water. The arrogant indulgence of rich environmentalists to resist such research is incredibly short-sighted.

Low-cost, targeted schemes are beginning to work in the most difficult places. About 50,000 more Kenyans are drinking clean water because of low-scale projects drilling new wells for only US$1,000, funded by the US-based Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

*Mike Moore, a former prime minister of New Zealand, was the first director-general of the World Trade Organisation (article from South China Morning Post)