Water is a theme destined to become increasingly important. Its availability is very uneven globally. India concentrates about 17% of the world's population but has only 4% of the water on Earth. Not too different is China. The United States, by contrast, has about 5% of the world's population but uses almost as much water as India or China.
The imbalance between supply and demand, already very serious at present, is destined to worsen further: in 2030 almost half of the world's population could be affected by an insufficient availability of water.
In terms of water supply, Italy occupies an intermediate position between the more favored Northern Europe and the traditionally more deficient Mediterranean countries. More than a problem of availability, in Italy there is a problem of quality in management. To recover efficiency, a recent document from the Electricity and Gas Authority (AEEG) sets the necessary interventions over the next thirty years at 65 billion euros. The financial requirement for the next five years is indicated as approximately 25 billion euro.
Finding such a large amount of resources is made more difficult by the regulatory framework determined by the referendums of June 2011, one of which excluded the possibility of including the remuneration (fixed at 7%) of the invested capital in the bill. The referendum decision is in contrast with the provisions of Community legislation (Water Framework Directive) which establishes that the tariff must fully cover the costs incurred (Full cost recovery) for the management of the service. These include the costs of capital (principal portion and interest portion, as well as any return on equity).
To get out of this intricate situation, the AEEG hypothesizes new financial hedging instruments such as, for example, hydrobonds. These are bonds linked to the financing of water network expansion/modernization plans, with medium-long maturities (in line with the time horizon of the investment plans) and returns compatible with future cash flows (tariff revenues). Hydrobonds largely recall US water bonds, a variant of municipal bonds whose success is also due to a preferential tax treatment.
Water is a theme to which little space is reserved and in any case much less than it deserves. Two-thirds of the earth's surface is covered in water but 97,5% of the world's water is salt water. Fresh water is only the remaining 2,5%: 69% solidified in glaciers and almost 31% located in underground aquifers. The most immediately accessible fresh water (lakes and rivers) is just 0,3% of the total.
The availability of water is very unequal globally. India has about 17% of the world's population but has only 4% of the water on Earth. Not too different is China (about a fifth of the world's population but only 7% of global water availability).
The United States, by contrast, has about 5% of the world's population but uses almost as much water as India or China. Water continues to play a central role in global geopolitical dynamics. Over 260 river basins are shared by two or more countries, 13 are shared by five or more countries, one (the Danube basin) by 18 countries. These situations have given rise to different developments: if on the one hand since 1947 about 300 transnational agreements have been signed to regulate the management of water basins, on the other hand 37 conflicts have also had water among the triggering causes.
In terms of use, agriculture concentrates almost 70% of global water consumption, industry 20% with the remaining 10% used for domestic purposes. From this point of view too, these are average values which summarize very different situations. In OECD countries irrigation in agriculture covers 44% of total consumption, in BRIC countries it rises to 74% (with Russia 20% and India 87%). In Africa, just 7% of cultivated land is actually irrigated compared to around 40% in Asia. In Italy, the breakdown of water uses is roughly as follows: agricultural irrigation 50%, industry (including energy) 31%, domestic use 19%.
Between now and 2050, the demand for water resources is expected to grow strongly in emerging countries (+80% approximately compared to 2000) and to contract significantly in those with more mature development (-12%). On the world average, the most important increases will concern manufacturing activities (+400%), energy production (+140%) and, to a lesser extent, domestic uses (+130%); the lower need in agriculture will limit the overall growth expected over the period to approximately 50-55%.
