Promoting Water Productivity and Efficiency

Moroccan small farmers' intensive vegetable plots cultivated using plastic mulching techniques and drip irrigation.

Said Ouattar

Water has always been essential for human activity in sectors ranging from agriculture to energy to heavy industry.  Today, an expanding global economy and a growing population are doubling water demand every 20 years.  For many countries water is becoming increasingly scarce, a source of local and regional tensions, and a drag on food production and economic growth. 

Averting this looming crisis requires improved water use efficiency to ensure that the quantity of water resources remain adequate for society’s competing demands; and a reduction in pollution and other threats to water quality, to ensure that the water supplies we do have remain usable.

USAID is helping developing countries meet these challenges by:

• Improving food security and related water use efficiency in agriculture
• Reducing water pollution by industry
• Increasing water use efficiency in cities and promoting water reuse
• Addressing linkages between the water and energy sectors
• Expanding water harvesting and distribution systems

Some of our activities in water productivity and efficiency include:

• In Bolivia, USAID’s work has prevented an estimated two million pounds of manure from entering Lake Titicaca each year.  USAID tracks this reduction through 23 water monitoring stations.
• In Haiti, a USAID program repaired seven pumping stations that irrigated approximately 1,750 acres and cleaned 20 kilometers of irrigation canals in the Rivière Grise area in fiscal year 2011.  USAID has also improved the structure of 17 ravines to reduce erosion that disrupts irrigation systems.
• In Afghanistan, USAID’s work brought 14,431 acres of farmland under irrigation and benefited 91,760 families through a range of infrastructure projects, including irrigation systems, in fiscal year 2011.