Freshwater Crisis Averted by Joint UN-Maldives Effort

                                                                                                                        Thoddoo Island, Maldives, 25 February 2016 - A new Integrated Water Supply System inaugurated Wednesday by the President of Maldives, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom, will harness rainwater harvesting and seawater desalination to protect Thoddoo Island's precious freshwater resources from overexploitation.

The new system is expected to provide a yearly mean rainwater supply of 8619 m3 to the 2,000 inhabitants of the island, helping to reduce excessive extraction of the scarce groundwater.

Like many other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) the Maldives have to meet the needs of a growing population with a very limited supply of clean drinking water. Inhabitants of the archipelago depend mainly on rainwater and groundwater aquifers to meet their needs.

The residents of Thoddoo Island in the Maldivian Alif Alif Atoll rely on a small lens - a thin layer of freshwater floating on top of dense saltwater - for drinking, cooking, washing and irrigation of crops.

Agriculture, using about 75 per cent of the island's surface, seriously threatened the groundwater aquifer, which is extremely susceptible to contamination from wastewater and agricultural chemicals and to saltwater intrusion caused by overexploitation.

It has been a common practice to mix fertilizers and other agricultural inputs in the island's shallow wells and pump the water for irrigation. Ultimately, this resulted in high salinity and pollution levels, with associated health risks for the population.

In addition to installing the new water supply system, the joint UN and Maldives effort will educate the people of AA. Thoddoo Island, especially farmers, about the fragile nature of the freshwater lens and raise their awareness on appropriate agricultural practices.

The Water Committee, created for that purpose, gathers representatives from the Island Council, farmer community, women, schools and nongovernmental organizations. It provides a platform for the islanders to plan and manage their own water fresh resources.

One of the key responsibilities of the Committee is to address the challenges associated with excessive abstraction from the freshwater lens and the inappropriate use of agro-chemicals and fertilizers.

The new water supply system was developed under an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) demonstration project led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The Government of Maldives covered nearly 70 per cent, or $1 million, of the system costs, in a demonstration of commitment and ownership of the project.

The best practices and lessons learned from the IWRM demonstration project in AA. Thoddoo are being used to inform UNEP's interventions in supporting the Government of Maldives in the ongoing water policy review and reforms to tackle its water scarcity problems in a sustainable way.

In the capital city of Malé desalinated water is supplied to households via a metred network, but on most of the outlying islands water is drawn from shallow, hand-dug wells and household- or community-owned rainwater tanks. Often, transportation of water across and between islands is needed, especially during the dry months of March and April.

The demonstrations project is part of a bigger initiative, the "Integrated Water Resource Management in Atlantic and Indian Ocean Small Island Developing States Project", funded by GEF to promote integrated water management in six island states: Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius, Comoros, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe.                                                                                    

Fuente: PNUMA /UNEP