Coupled with weak governance, financially unviable operations, and other risk factors, water security threatens to deteriorate particularly in urban settings, as the urban population is set to double between 2000 and 2030. This is also among the early findings of the “World Water Development Report: Managing Water under Risk and Uncertainty,” by the UN World Water Assessment Programme, to be released in March 2012. Rick Connor, who presented the findings, emphasized that accelerating changes in key external pressures on water resources - foremost among those being demographics - bring about new risks and uncertainties.

But Connor also drew attention to the significant water-energy-security trade-offs, which were the topic of several seminars at the conference. Examples discussed include water pollution through energy production from shale gas or tar sands, and energy insecurity induced by water scarcity. In advanced economies, almost 40 percent of water withdrawal is due to energy production. Participants also emphasized the potential of hydropower development for Africa to supply energy and improve livelihoods. This, however, will require greatly improved cooperation because of the uneven distribution of energy sources across the continent. Regarding water and sanitation commitments in Africa, the EU Water Initiative warned that they are drastically underfunded and that related aid is poorly coordinated and inefficiently used. Against this backdrop, WaterAid launched a new online platform intended to monitor government policy commitments in the water and sanitation sector, and hence improve accountability.

The water chapter of the Green Economy Report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), also released at the occasion of the conference, highlights a key message of World Water Week: Current practices and policies do not live up to the importance and the magnitude of the coming water challenges.