János Ader, former President of the Republic and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Keck Boligo Foundation for Climate Protection, said this today at the World Water Day event.
The county seat of Somogyi has already done a lot to protect the environment by converting waste management, using biogas-powered buses, using renewable energy, and collecting used cooking oil at home, but it has also cut harmful emissions by more than half. These sustainability efforts have been praised by János Ader, which, according to him, is the exact reason why they started working together again.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Keck Poligo Climate Protection Foundation spoke about the water crisis in his presentation at the College of Klebelsberg High School, touching on the following topics:
Demographic explosion:
Within a hundred years, the Earth's population has quadrupled: while in the 1920s the Earth's population was 2 billion, it exceeded more than 8 billion in November 2022. According to forecasts, it will reach 10-10.5 billion in the next 30 years.
This means a lot of hungry and thirsty mouths – emphasized János Ader, who explained the numbers and said: Today already 2.5 billion people live in areas of the world considered to suffer from water shortages. This is larger than the total population of Earth 100 years ago. In some areas, it takes 4 hours to get water for basic supplies, while at home we just turn on the tap.
Most humans live in a divided watershed area, meaning that a single river or lake touches the lands of several countries. Although the Hungarians, for example, have agreed with their neighbors over the use of the Danube River, conflicts exist and are expected to occur in many places.
21st. Horn – Water Horn:
The challenge we face today is that more and more people must be provided with food on increasingly poor quality farmland. The amount of water on Earth is constant, but its circulation – the hydrological cycle – has changed, which is why extreme weather, hurricanes and supercells occur. The President stressed that because of this, agricultural damage is also increasing, which we must learn to adapt to. But rising sea levels and the decline of freshwater animals will pose a problem in the near future.
Drama of the Three Waters – 1.: Drama of Many Waters:
János Ader said that melting glaciers is a big problem, with about 30 million cubic meters of ice melting every hour. As a result, there is no need to be surprised by sea level rise and flooding of populated areas in Oman and Dubai.
The Three Waters Drama – Part 1: The Little Water Drama:
California is one of the driest regions in the USA, and this can also cause problems in energy production, for example due to the drying up of water tanks connected to power plants. In southern Europe, water restrictions should be imposed well in advance (in the spring months). In India, there is a real risk that most wells will dry up.
Three Waters Drama – Part Two 1: Polluted Water Drama:
Oil pollution from tankers is a problem in many places, but municipal pollution is also a major problem: in the developing world, for example, 80 percent of wastewater is returned to rivers untreated, causing serious health risks. The human body cannot digest the microplastics found in PET bottles.
Internal mode:
80 percent of climate change impacts are felt through water in the form of floods and droughts. Drought in 2022 caused HUF 1,000 billion in damage to producers and affected almost the entire country.
Due to the specific characteristics of the Carpathian Basin, Hungary will be affected by climate change sooner and more severely. In recent years, 4,000 km of flood protection dams had to be built in our country, and 6 emergency reservoirs were built. But, according to the new way of thinking, excess water must be stored, because it will be needed later. According to the new research, ancient swampy and wetland areas that are now under agriculture should be restored to nature.
Water footprint:
This is the number that shows the amount of water needed to produce a particular product. For example, 2,500 liters for a cotton T-shirt, 7,600 liters for a pair of jeans, and 13,000 liters to produce a mobile phone.
Solutions:
The figure that one drop of used cooking oil contaminates 1,000 liters of water can be surprising and terrifying at the same time. That's why the program that started at the end of last year, whose first site is in Kaposvár, is exemplary: used cooking oil is collected from residents, then processed and turned into fuel.
Also important is the Under 2 movement, which aims to reduce emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050 compared to 1990. Kaposvar was the first to join this and all the cities with district rights under its leadership. Each city tries to achieve this through special programs based on local characteristics, but Kaposvár is making good progress in this regard.
“The city has taken big steps to become sustainable, which is why we started working together,” said János Adair. We want to create a model project here that can be a model for other European cities. Kaposvár is a good option because it can be traced and seen how a medium-sized city can add something to the solutions in the current situation through diligence, talent and dedication. There are ideas that could perhaps be included in the city's long-term program.
There are Hungarian researchers and companies that have already developed technologies to solve existing problems. Thus, among others, there are those that can produce water from air humidity, they dissolve water and purify wastewater on site, as well as clean leachate next to waste containers.
These aspirations must be appreciated and used. This is the future! – added the former President of the Republic.
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For example, ADIR, environmental protection, water, SETA, climate, Kaposvar, economy
