THE ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF WATER: DILEMMAS AND FUTURE

CHALLENGES

Muhammad Mizanur Rahaman1 and Olli Varis

Water Resources Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, 02015 Espoo, Finland

ABSTRACT

No sector of the society is value free and immune to ethical consideration, water sector is not an
exception. Questions of access and deprivation underlie most water decisions. Current water resources
management approaches are facing various ethical dilemmas. The purpose of this paper is to focus
some key ethical issues related to water, which are crucial to water resources development and
management. One of the future challenges for water professionals is to find out logical linkages
between water policies and ethics to achieve an effective, efficient and sustainable water resources
development and management.

[Citation: Rahaman, M. M. & Varis, O. (2005) The Ethical perspective of Water:

Dilemmas and Future challenges, In: Afgan, N., Bogdan, Z., Duic, N. & Guzovic, Z.
(Eds.): Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems –Volume
II, pp. 39-51 (University of Zagreb, Croatia).]

1
Corresponding author, email: muhammadmizanur@gmail.com
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

INTRODUCTION

Water is life- no one can survive without water. Water is the common symbol of humanity, social
equity and justice. Unequal distribution of water, poor water management, lack of ethical framework,
inadequate knowledge and resources are the main reasons for the water crisis in the world. The world
fresh water resources are under sledge. Less than 1 percent of the planet’s water is available for human
consumption. More than 1 billion people still have no excess to safe drinking water, 3 billion people
are deprived of basic sanitation services and more than 800 million people, 15 percent of the world
population do not have enough food to meet their basic nutritional needs [1]. Competition for water
among agricultural, domestic and industrial users, and between them and the natural environment, will
become more and more acute. For many countries the availability of water may become a major
determinate of economic growth. The use of freshwater resources presents numerous problems, whose
solution requires ethical reflection.

“Age old knowledge of water conservation and management within the ecosystem, occasionally
confronted with technological choices, drawn from principles of precaution, responsibility and
transparency, should be at forefront” [2]. In order to pursue the goal of sustainable and equitable water
resources development, we have to manage water resources in a sustainable way, taking environmental
as well as economic, social, geographical, political and spiritual aspects into account and learn to treat
social and practical decisions ethically. Without an ethical framework, all efforts towards sustainable
water resources management would be piecemeal, fragmented and ephemeral.

Water ethics is still in its infancy and the literature pertinent to water ethics is rather fragmented. There
is no extensive research or publication for water ethics, yet the floor has been opened by UNESCO in
the form of two prominent publications, “The Ethics of Freshwater: A survey” by Lord Selborne and
the upcoming monograph on Water and Ethics. The Selborne report is important opening of the
discussion and thus highly influential. However, it is very general in nature and fails to focus some
crucial areas of water ethics in the context of developed world and developing world, which are
certainly vital for an effective and efficient water resources management.

The chapters included in the forthcoming UNESCO monograph [3] are written from the point of view
of experts on different aspects of the occurrence and use of freshwater, yet no profess to be
authoritative discussions of the basic ethical principles is involved. It offers a wide range of dialogues
and discussions in the field of water ethics, and more precisely it will help to understand the water
ethics in a broader sense. It does not intend to compare ethical perspective between developed and
developing world.

The scope of this paper is to analyse six major concern areas of water sector i.e. water for agriculture,
water for nature, water infrastructure, water pricing, transparency and financial support for developing
world’s development from the ethical viewpoint. We figure out the ethical dilemmas related to these
areas of water resources management in the context of developed and developing world viewpoints. In
conclusion, we recommends six ethical initiatives that are need to be taken into account by water
professionals and decision makers for coming out from these discussed ethical dilemmas and to achieve
an effective, balanced and ethically acceptable water resources management.
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

ETHICS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Ethics are moral principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group.
They serve as guidelines on how to act rightly and justly when faced with moral dilemmas. Ethical
dilemmas arise in situation, when
• Each alternative choice or behaviour has some undesirable elements due to potentially negative
ethical or personal consequences.
• Right or wrong cannot be clearly identified.

Ethical behaviour comprises of honesty, trust, treating others fairly and loyalty. One commonly
accepted ethical cornerstone is “Always treat others, as you would like them to treat you” [4].

The Brundtland report [5], defined the principles of sustainable development such as: “The earth is one
but the world is not. We all depend on one biosphere for sustaining our lives. Yet each community,
each country, strive for survival and prosperity with little regards for its impacts on other” and
“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
needs.” Now sustainable development means not only development that takes account of the needs of
future generations, but also requires us to share the “ecological space” of the planet more fairly
between people and countries.

Thus sustainable development requires ethical framework in the management of all transboundary
natural resources of a finite nature. The equitable distribution and access to water, the most precious
transboundary resource, is our basic fundamental human right as well as our economical, social and
cultural asset. We have to find out common ethical principles that will balance among water uses,
among the traditional and technological solutions and among regions. We have to use our wisdom for
sharing, caring and conserving our water resources in a new light of morality. We have to ensure every
people in this world that we are treating others, as we would like to be treated by others. To achieve
sustainable water resources development, we have to set ethical framework by using our sense of
responsibility, honesty, transparency and loyalty.

UNESCO INITIATIVES TOWARDS WATER ETHICS

Although water ethics are now becoming important for water management, there is lack of discourse on
water ethics. The World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, known as
COMEST set by UNESCO in 1997, played pioneer role in this regard. COMEST seeks to motivate
scientists by adding an ethical dimension to their intellectual freedom. A COMEST sub-commission on
the ethics of fresh water was established in October 1999. It tried to find out common ethical principles
related to water, which can be accepted as applicable in all geographies, in all stages of economic
development and for all time. In 25th October 2000, Lord Selborne, Chairperson of the COMEST sub-
commission on the ethics of fresh water, published his historical “The Ethics of Freshwater Use: A
Survey”. The survey draws on a rich and varied body of discussion and documentation to provide an
overview of the practical areas of concern so as to move relevant ethical stances. The aim of the survey
is to help lay a foundation of trust, justice and equity in the availability of and access to freshwater
resources for the entire community of nations [2].

The Universal ethical principles that are directly acceptable to the issue of water were pointed out in
the paper. These are as follows:
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

• The principle of human dignity: there is no life without water and those to whom it is denied are
denied life.
• The principles of participation: all individuals especially the poor and women must be involved
in water planning and management.
• The principle of solidarity: water continually confronts humans with their upstream and
downstream interdependency.
• The principle of human equity: taken to mean rendering to all persons their due and which
describes perfectly the challenges in river basin management today.
• The principle of the common good: water is a common good and without proper water
management human potential and dignity are diminished for all and denied to some.
• The principle of stewardship: much of water management is about finding an ethical balance
among using, changing and preserving our water resources and land.

To find ways of putting people at the heart of an increasingly complex, fragmented and impersonal
vision of the world and to contribute to the water debate, the Selborne report sets some guiding
principles by identifying a number of fundamental concerns that go beyond science. It gave emphasis
on the notions of solidarity, social justice, equity, water as a common good and ecological stewardship.
The guiding principles are set for several areas of water sector, i.e. water as an ethical issue, consuming
water, protecting water and distributing water. The key concern of the Selborne report was to
contribute to the water debate and thus enhancing the international dialogue on the ethical dimension of
freshwater resources, which is very vital for human development.

The upcoming monograph edited by J.C.I Dooge, “Water and Ethics”, is part of the outcome from the
Working Group on the Use of Freshwater Resources established in 1998 under the theme Water,
Civilization, and Ethics. To provide an input to the Third World Water Forum, UNESCO published
the, “Water and Ethics: Preliminary version”, on CD ROM with nearly all of the final texts of the
forthcoming book that were finalized by February 2003. Some new chapters will also be included in
the upcoming book. The issues discussed in the preliminary version of the book are varied. The key
aim of the book is to provide a wide-ranging dialogue on these issues between experts in the relevant
disciplines in the natural sciences and in social sciences [3]. It is worthwhile to say that the forthcoming
publication will also play an indispensable role in accelerating the COMEST proposed UNESCO
projects, global Research and Ethical Network (RENEW) and Global Organization of Universities for
Teaching, Training and Ethics of Water (GOUTTE).

These two publications of UNESCO are most influential in the field of water ethics; to give basic ideas
and clear understanding, raise some ethical dilemmas, setting general guiding principles and enhancing
water dialogue on water ethics and future research. Indeed these are general in nature and further
research, analysis and dialogue is necessary to address our responsibility to one of the most crucial
aspects of water issue; the water ethics.

KEY ETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO WATER MANAGEMENT

Ethical perception may be varied person to person, among societies and countries. Indeed, it is a
challenging task to find out the common ethical principles related to water that could be accepted as
applicable throughout the world. In this section six key ethical issues related to water management are
described to facilitate and accelerate our thinking towards water ethics and come out from moral panics
and ethical skepticism.
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

Water and Agriculture

Food security is the basic human right. Agriculture produces the largest share of the food consumed by
humanity. Water for agriculture is one of the driving forces for the poverty alleviation and economic
sustainability of a country. Plans of Implementation of The World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) pointed out that agriculture plays a crucial role in addressing the needs of a
growing global population, and is inextricably linked to poverty eradication, especially in developing
countries [6]. Today’s 250 million hectares of irrigated area, worldwide, is nearly five times the amount
that existed at the beginning of the twentieth century [7]. Agriculture is the largest user of fresh water,
accounting for some three quarters of global water consumption and according to future scenario this
trend will continue (Figure 1). The main limitation to increasing food production is water. More than
60 per cent of global food production is attributed to rain fed agriculture, and nearly 40 per cent to
irrigated abstraction. 70 per cent of the world groundwater withdrawals are used for irrigation purposes.
If population increases by 65 per cent over the next 50 years, around 70 per cent of the population will
face water shortages and 16 per cent will have insufficient water to grow their basic food requirements
[2].

Total water consumption(cubic kilometers) Irrigation water consumption(cubic kilometers)

World World

Developing world Developing World

Developed World Developed World

USA USA

India India

China China

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 0 500 1000 1500 2000

Figure1: Total water consumption and Irrigation Water consumption in regions. The data are adjusted
for 2025 and 1995 (from the top).
Source: [7] Rosegrant et al. 2002.

Water for agriculture gained major attention in all the water initiatives in last decade. Ministerial
declaration of 2nd World Water Forum urges, “Enhance food security, particularly of the poor and
vulnerable, through the more efficient mobilization and use and the more equitable allocation of water
for food production”. The regional water vision of South Asia states “a region can and must be self
sufficient in food; food security for all- at household, national, and regional levels; providing food for
vulnerable sections at affordable prices.” For many parts of developing world, water for agriculture is
one of the dominant factors for their food security, economy, poverty alleviation and political stability.
International Water Management Institute (IWMI) study in the Walawe Left Bank System (WLB), Sri
Lanka, concludes that access to irrigation contributes food security, balanced diet and reduced
vulnerability and poverty at the household and community levels [8].

In ethical aspect, society must ensure that appropriate prioritization of water access is put in place,
which allows humanity’s essential needs to be met. But what will be the basis for prioritization? Water
for ecosystem or water for irrigation? Allocate water for agriculture or water for industry? In strictly
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

economic term industrial uses of water generate more than 60 times the value of the same quantity of
water used in irrigation [2]. In full cost recovery principle, will we allocate more water to the industry?
Subsidy for irrigation or full cost recovery? Ensure food security or economic well-being? Will current
practices of water management help or hinder the ability of hundreds of millions of people who are
currently malnourished particularly in the global south?

The future challenges of water professionals is to find out appropriate prioritization of water allocation,
increase irrigation efficiency in an affordable cost, increase rain fed agriculture productivity and
carefully consider the ethical ground in water allocation for agricultural purposes. Prioritization
mechanism, particularly for developing world, should give highest priority on humanity rather than
economical benefit so that developing world can attain food security to meet their basic nutritional
needs.

Water for ecology

Water is fundamental to the biochemistry of all living organisms. The earth ecosystem give humankind
an environment security by providing staples, such as fish, medicines and timber products, services,
such as flood protection and water quality improvement, and biodiversity. Water availability is often a
key controlling factor in maintaining biodiversity. Smaktin (2002) defines the environmental water
requirements as the amount and quality of water required to protect an ecosystem to enable
ecologically sustainable development and water resources utilization [9]. The present situation and
possible future scenarios of water withdrawal and share of withdrawal to renewable water are alarming
(Figure 2). As the world population is expected to rise to between 7.9 and 9.1 billion by the year 2025,
human demand for water for domestic, industrial and agricultural purposes will also increase rapidly.
Perhaps this is one of the most critical problems in achieving sustainable development that need to be
tackled in 21st century [7].

Keeping this point in mind all the international conferences and summits call for providing water for
ecosystems. Dublin conference stated: “Since water sustains all life, effective management of water
resources demands a holistic approach, linking social and economic development with protection of
natural ecosystem.” Agenda 21 clearly states “in developing and using water resources priority has to
be given to the satisfaction of basic needs and the safeguarding of ecosystem”. Plan of Implementation
of WSSD summit states “it is necessary to implement strategies which should include targets adopted
at the national and, where appropriate regional levels to protect ecosystems and to achieve integrated
management of land, water and living resources, while strengthening regional, national and local
capacities” [6]. WSSD summit also calls for improving the efficient use of water resources and promote
their allocation among competing uses in a way that gives priority to the satisfaction of basic human
needs and balances the requirement of preserving or restoring ecosystems.
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

Total water withdrawal in cubic kilometers Ratio of withdrawal to TRW

World World

Developing world Developing world

Developed world Developed world

Pakistan Pakistan

USA USA

India India

China China

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

Figure 2: Total water withdrawal in cubic kilometers and ratio of withdrawal to total renewable water
(TRW) in region/country. The data are adjusted for the year 2025, 2010 and 1995 (from the top).
Source: [7] Rosegrant et al. 2002.

The ethical dilemma is that as human beings we can’t overlook the need for starving and thirsty people,
on the other hand we also feel that other species have a right to fresh water to conserve the biodiversity
for future generations. Whilst people need water directly to drink, irrigate crops or supply industry,
ensuring water for the environment means using water indirectly for people. Poverty and malnutrition
are also acute loads to the environment that must be avoided. Thus the ethical question arise, water for
people or water for environment?

The problem is to decide how much water should be utilised directly for people for domestic use,
agriculture and industry and how much water should be used indirectly to maintain ecosystem. It is
therefore necessary to quantify the costs and benefits to society of allocating water to maintain
ecosystems and those involved supporting direct use. Making sound decision about water allocation
requires details of the water needs and the value of ecosystem functions to human life [2]. The
consideration of economic security from water allocation is not enough; social and ethical
considerations are also vital. Bonn recommendation for action also suggested, “Allocation mechanism
should balance competing demands and take into account the social, economic and environmental
values of water” [10]. To achieve an efficient water management it’s now vital to develop a consistent
measure of ethical justice that can be used for determining water allocation.

Water Infrastructure

Water infrastructure is necessary in the provision of goods and services to meet basic human needs
such as drinking, sanitation, food and energy supply, etc. Although the financial, environmental and
social costs are high for new water infrastructure projects, the selective expansion of water supply
capacities is still necessary in innumerable regions, especially in developing world. Storage and water
distribution systems are particularly needed for Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia and in
some countries in Latin America [7]. In South Asia regional water vision 2025, water infrastructure
development was pointed out as a major economic key driver for the region [11]. IWMI case study
result shows that incidence of chronic poverty is highest in areas without access to irrigation
infrastructure (typical relying on rainfed agriculture) compared to areas with access to irrigation
infrastructure [8]. Careful analysis on the necessity, existing and potential benefit from water
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

infrastructure development, reveals that there is a strong ethical tradeoff between developed world and
developing world in case of water infrastructure development.

For water infrastructure development in developing countries, subsidies are vital. The principle of full
cost recovery sometimes handicaps developing nations who are striving for providing basic needs by
subsidizing their basic water infrastructure. It should be noted that the initial infrastructure investment
in developed world was based on massive subsidies, i.e. Europe [2]. Large dams are constructed in
developing countries mainly for irrigation and water supply purposes (Figure 3). In many parts of
developing world hydropower potential is huge, on the contrary developed world has already tapped its
hydropower potential (Figure 4). For utilizing these huge amounts of potential hydropower, developing
world now needs to construct dams in order to provide energy which in a form or another is a
prerequisite to their development. But in the last two decades opposition to dams has arisen greatly due
to social and environmental concern, mostly led by developed countries.

The ethical question arises why developed world are now opposing dam construction after constructing
massive and huge number of dams in their own countries in the last century. On that time the
developing world didn’t protest the dam construction in developed world. Does the movement against
dams acknowledge the line between infrastructures construction and economical development of
developing world? Why the realization against subsidies comes forward now when developing
countries are trying to develop their basic infrastructure? Will these initiatives against water
infrastructure development in turn make developing world more dependable on developed world?

LARGE DAMS BY PURPOSE

North America 13 11 10 11 24 30

Europe 3 25 16 31 2 23

Africa 1 52 20 6 2 19

Asia 2 65 2 7 1 24

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Flood Control Irrigation Water Supply Hydropower Other Single purpose Multipurpose

Figure 3: Distribution of existing large dam by purpose.

Source: [12] WCD 2000.
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

HYDROPOWER HYDROPOWER
Potential and production Potential and production
TWh per year
0 200 400 600 TWh per year 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

USA 67% Colombia 18.5 %

Indonesia 3.1 %
Switzerland 85% Percentage
India 11.4 %
Italy 63% Production
Cambodia 0.1 %

Germany 69%
Technically feasible China 10.0 %
potential
Finland 60% Congo DR 0.6 %

Figure 4: Hydropower Potential and Production from Hydro Plants in some developing countries (on
the left) and Developed countries (on the right).
Source: [13] The International Journal on Hydropower & Dams, 1999.

As a large part of the world is now facing severe water scarcity, highly selective investments in water
infrastructure are necessary for increasing the supply of water for irrigation, domestic and industrial
purposes, particularly in developing world. There is no doubt that despite the “Business as usual”
scenario, subsidies on water infrastructure will realistically going to play a vital role in the context of
developing world. Still developed world (i.e. Europe, USA) is providing massive subsidies on water
sector and is expected to continue along these lines. Future challenges of water professionals are to find
ethical tradeoffs between the needs of developed and developing world in water infrastructure
development.

Water pricing

Water is recognized as an economic good in many international declarations related to water such as
those of the International Conference on Water and Environment (Dublin 1992), Second World Water
Forum (The Hague 2000), International Conference on Freshwater (Bonn 2001), The World Summit on
Sustainable Development (Johannesburg 2002) and the policies of major lenders and donors, i.e. in the
EU Water Framework Directive. But there are profound ethical implications in perceiving ourselves as
water citizen as opposed to water consumers. Water as a common good focuses on water citizens while
water as private as well as public ownership focuses on water consumers. The ethics of providing and
pricing water for the poor is very crucial. Practical questions must be asked such as should water
supply be cut off from those who fail to pay? Should the rich subsidize the poor? Are we water
consumers or water citizens?

Water is a basic human need and access to minimum quantity of safe water (20 litres per person per
day) is every one’s right. Lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation and irrigation is directly
related to poverty and poor health. For example, in South Asia 300 million people have no safe
drinking water and 920 million people have no adequate sanitation [14]. In many developing countries
the very poor actually pay a great deal for water but these costs are often hidden. Water is priced by all
societies and the poor often have no choice but to pay high prices, spending between 5-10 per cent of
their income but in contrast in most industrialized countries lower middle class spend 1-3 per cent of
their income on potable water and sanitation [2]. For example in OECD countries households spend
about 1 per cent of their income on water, on the other hand in Onitsha, Nigeria, the poor spend as
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

much as 18 per cent of their income on water [15]. The application of economic principles to the
allocation of water is acceptable except for the use of water for basic needs Water should not be treated
as a market oriented commodity, when it comes to domestic use for basic needs such as drinking,
sanitation, cooking, bathing and washing, etc [16]. In domestic water pricing system, the government
should pay water price until poor people become economically better off to pay. But it is very tough to
protect poor water customers in developing nations due to lack of legitimate and trusted management
authority. Whittington (2003) suggested one simple approach to identify poor households and give
them cash assistance to pay their water bills, an approach that are now used in Chile. Water pricing
mechanism should be such that upper middle class and rich subsidize the poor [17].

It is very clear that if water is not priced correctly and ethically it will be wasted. Ministerial
declaration of Second World Water Forum states that the water pricing approach should take account
of the need for equity and the basic needs of the poor and the vulnerable [18]. The highly ambitious
millennium declaration of the United Nations calls for reducing by half the proportion of people
without sustainable access to safe drinking water and extreme poverty by the year 2015 [19]. To go
through along these directions water pricing policies, particularly in developing countries, requires
strong ethical reflection on economical, social, political and geographical factors. While financial
sustainability is necessary, cost recovery should not thwart the poor access to water and sanitation.

Transparency

Good governance within each country and at the international level is essential for sustainable
development [6]. As a result of globalization, external factors have become critical in determining the
success and failure of developing countries. The South Asian Water Vision 2025 stated that without
addressing the issues of governance, policy and institutions integrated development and management of
the water resources for realizing a sustainable water vision in 2025 will only be an academic exercise
[11]. The Bonn Recommendation for action urges, “Water governance arrangement should improve
accountability, introduce and enforce appropriate legal provisions against corruption, monitor the
performance of public institutions and private companies, develop codes of conduct, and invite civil
society to play an active role in these processes” [10]. Development effort cannot be effective, if it does
not have the underpinning competent, capable and transparent institutions.

Indeed it is a fact that without appropriate reforming towards good governance and institutions, an
effective water resources management addressing the poor is impossible. Honest and efficient
leadership and political commitment are vital for poverty reduction by sustainable management of all
natural resources. In developing countries corruption is one of the main reasons for poverty. But who is
responsible for corruption in developing world? What is the role of developed world in developing
world corruption? Ethical consideration and analysis, reveals an unethical dual strategy and policy of
developed world against corruption, one strategy for inside their own boundary and other is for
developing nation.

In Transparency International’s1 Corruption Perception Report, Peter Eigen States, “Hand in glove with
corrupt business people, political elites and their cronies are trapping the whole nations in poverty and
hampering sustainable development”. Many developed countries are in many ways ethically

1
Transparency International (TI), founded in 1993, is the only global non-governmental and not-for-profit organization
devoted solely to curbing corruption. TI currently has 87 national chapters around the world and TI’s International
Secretariat is in Berlin, Germany.
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

responsible for the corruption in developing countries, although they are maintaining an honest,
corruption-free system inside their own boundary (Table 1). “Corrupt political elites in the developing
world, working hand-in-hand with greedy business people and unscrupulous investors, are putting
private gain before the welfare of citizens and the economic development of their countries” [20]. As
for example, according to Transparency International report, corruption perception index rank of
Australia is 10; at the same time Australia is number one according to bribe payer index rank. Which
means Australia is maintaining a corruption-free transparent system inside its own boundary but
Australian multinational companies are giving bribes to senior public officials and politicians of
developing world to get business and other facilities from the emerging market economies of
developing world. These kinds of unethical dual strategies are enhancing the corruption in developing
world.

Table 1: Comparison of TI’s Bribe Payer Index (BPI)2 and Corruption Perception Index (CPI)3 for
some developed countries.

Country BPI Score, CPI Score, BPI rank 2002 CPI Rank,
2002 2002 2002
Australia 8.5 8.6 1 10
Sweden 8.4 9.3 2 5
Switzerland 8.4 8.5 2 12
Austria 8.2 7.8 4 15
Canada 8.1 9.0 5 7
Netherlands 7.8 9.0 6 7
Belgium 7.8 7.1 6 20
United Kingdom 6.9 8.7 8 11
Singapore 6.3 9.3 9 5
Germany 6.3 7.3 9 18
USA 5.3 7.7 13 16
Finland N/A 9.7 N/A 1
Denmark N/A 9.5 N/A 2
Bangladesh N/A 1.2 N/A 102
Vietnam N/A 2.4 N/A 85
Kenya N/A 1.9 N/A 96
Senegal N/A 3.1 N/A 66

Sources: [20] TI 2002a, [21] TI 2002b.

The giving and receiving of bribes and kickbacks is one case of unethical competitive behavior.
Developed countries must have to enforce effectively and honestly the Anti-Bribery Laws, i.e. US
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (1977) and OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (1997), to reduce the

2
The TI Bribe Payer Index (BPI) 2002 is based on surveys conducted in 15 emerging market economies involved in trade
and investment with multinational firms. The question relate to the propensity of companies from 21 leading exporting
countries to pay bribes to senior public officials in the surveyed emerging market economies.
3
The TI Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2002 ranks 102 countries. Seventy countries-including many of the world’s
most poverty-stricken- score less than 5 out of a clean score of 10. Countries with score higher than 9, with very low levels
of perceived corruption, are predominantly rich countries.
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

corruption in developing countries. Developing countries must have to enforce strong anti-corruption
rules and regulation to combat against corruption. Without such ethical commitment, it will be just a lip
service of politicians to fight against corruption.

Financial support for developing countries

There is a broad consensus among development community that Official Development Assistance
(ODA) continues to be of vital importance for many countries in global south. According to World
Water Commission estimation US$ 100 billion a year is needed in the water sector, in addition to the
current expenditure of US$ 80 billion to meet the needs in water and sanitation infrastructure for the
growing worldwide population over the next 25 years [1]. ODA is urgent in water resources
management of developing world in an integrated manner hand in hand to reduce poverty, illiteracy
and human development. The agreed UN target of ODA for developed countries is 0.7 per cent of
GDP. But in reality only a few developed countries are reaching this target (Figure 5). Ministerial
declaration of International Conference on Fresh Water urges, “Developed countries which have agreed
to, but not yet reached, the agreed UN target for official development assistance of 0.7 per cent of GDP
should exert their best efforts to do so” [10]. United Nations millennium development goals pointed out
the fact that currently many developing countries are spending more on debt service than on social
service and hence it urges to enhance debt relief, cancellation of official bilateral debt and more
generous ODA for developing countries [22].

Net ODA
as a percentage of GNI in 2003

1,4

0,92
0,84 0,81 0,8
0,7 0,7
0,7 0,61
0,41 0,41 0,38 0,41
0,34 0,34
0,28 0,26 0,25 0,25 0,25
0,23 0,21 0,21 0,2 0,2
0,16 0,14

0
UN Target
Total DAC
Kingdom
Netherland

Canada

Italy
Spain

Japan
France

Greece
Switzerland
Sweden
Norway

United

Figure 5: Net ODA for OECD countries as percentage of Gross National Income (GNI).
Source: [23] OECD 2004.

The UN agencies collective declaration on the occasion of the 1999 World Water Day (22nd March)
stated that the amount of donor money necessary to bring low-cost, safe water and sanitation to those
who need it over the next eight to ten years was equivalent to the money spent on pet food in North
America and Europe [2]. Europe and United States spend something like $300 billion on subsidies for
farmers and there is only $50 billion in foreign aid per year. In the field of infrastructure development
in developing world only 5 percent money comes from official aid [24]. In ethical consideration these
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

facts are so crucial that anybody can raise question about the commitments of developed world for
sustainable environment and water management.

To meet the Millennium development goals related to water, developed countries must have to come
forward to fulfill the commitments in the field of financing the developing world. EU Water Initiative
for WSSD is one excellent initiative in this regard. EU is now donating 1.4 billion euro per year in
water related development and also ready to deliver additional resources according to monetary
commitment [25].

Developed world should have to respond ethically to the developing world by contributing to their
development. On the other hand we can’t blame developed world blindly as developing world has often
failed to gain trust of donors because of misuse of foreign aid by the corrupt politicians and elite
societies. Developing world must have to ensure the developed world that the ODA will sincerely
address to the poor; otherwise developed world will not be interested to waste their valuable money.
The ethical commitment of developed world and clarity of developing world is necessary in case of
ODA; otherwise all the initiatives toward sustainable development and water security will be worthless.

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE OUTLOOK

Water, a life-giving source, is also an economical asset, which must be so managed as not to become a
source of conflict, inequity or imbalance between or within societies or countries. Water sector needs
fundamental ethical reform and the time to act is now. The following ethical issues need to be
considered carefully by water professionals for effective and efficient water resources planning and
management, which are:

• Strong ethical responsibility in water policies related to food production and provision of other
basic services particularly in developing world.
• Balancing between environmental flow requirement, agriculture and other sector by adopting a
proper allocation mechanism giving high priority of consistent measures of ethical justice.
• Ethical tradeoffs between the need of developed and developing world in water infrastructure
development.
• Ethical balance of financial sustainability and poverty in case of water pricing.
• Developed world’s ethical commitment to honestly help developing world to work against
corruption.
• Developed world’s ethical responsibility to provide Official Development Assistance to
developing countries according to their commitment, at the same time the developing world
responsibility is to ensure developed world that ODA will be addressed to the poor and will not
be wasted.

This paper focused on six major concern areas of water ethics and provided some thoughts for future
studies in water ethics, as there is lack of scrutiny in this crucial aspect of water management. The
elaboration of certain number of ethical issues in this paper should not be considered as an end itself
but should have to be a starting point for water professionals to handle the issue of ethics quite
considerably in planning their future policies. Developed world must have to come out from moral
panics and ethical skepticism. Water professionals must have to consider the ethical perspective of
water to implement policies in field level effectively. The ethics of water is a reality; water resources
policies and principles can become sets of idealistic buzzwords, if water professionals fail to face this
reality.
ETHICS OF WATER: RAHAMAN, M.M. AND VARIS, O. (2005)

Acknowledgements- This study was funded by the Academy of Finland, within the project 45809. The
comments of Pertti Vakkilainen, Tommi Kajander Abdus Salam and Tero Kärkkäinen are greatly
appreciated.

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