16.4.1 Water resources
Owing to factors of limited size, availability, and geology and topography, water resources in small islands are extremely vulnerable to changes and variations in climate, especially in rainfall (IPCC, 2001). In most regions of small islands, projected future changes in seasonal and annual precipitation are uncertain, although in a few instances precipitation is likely to increase slightly during December, January and February (DJF) in the Indian Ocean and southern Pacific and during June, July and August (JJA) in the northern Pacific (Christensen et al., 2007). Even so, the scarcity of fresh water is often a limiting factor for social and economic development in small islands. Burns (2002) has also cautioned that with the rapid growth of tourism and service industries in many small islands, there is a need both for augmentation of the existing water resources and for more efficient planning and management of those resources. Measures to reduce water demand and promote conservation are also especially important on small islands, where infrastructure deterioration resulting in major leakage is common, and water pollution from soil erosion, herbicide and pesticide runoff, livestock waste, and liquid and solid waste disposal results in high costs, crudely estimated at around 3% of GDP in Rarotonga, Cook Islands (Hajkowicz, 2006).
This dependency on rainfall significantly increases the vulnerability of small islands to future changes in distribution of rainfall. For example, model projections suggest that a 10% reduction in average rainfall by 2050 is likely to correspond to a 20% reduction in the size of the freshwater lens on Tarawa Atoll, Kiribati. Moreover, a reduction in the size of the island, resulting from land loss accompanying sea-level rise, is likely to reduce the thickness of the freshwater lens on atolls by as much as 29% (World Bank, 2000). Less rainfall coupled with accelerated sea-level rise would compound this threat. Studies conducted on Bonriki Island in Tarawa, Kiribati, showed that a 50 cm rise in sea level accompanied by a reduction in rainfall of 25% would reduce the freshwater lens by 65% (World Bank, 2000). Increases in sea level may also shift watertables close to or above the surface, resulting in increased evapotranspiration, thus diminishing the resource (Burns, 2000).
Lower rainfall typically leads to a reduction in the amount of water that can be physically harvested, to a reduction in river flow, and to a slower rate of recharge of the freshwater lens, which can result in prolonged drought impacts. Recent modelling of the current and future water resource availability on several small islands in the Caribbean, using a macro-scale hydrological model and the SRES scenarios (Arnell, 2004), found that many of these islands would be exposed to severe water stress under all SRES scenarios, and especially so under A2 and B2. Since most of the islands are dependent upon surface water catchments for water supply, it is highly likely that demand could not be met during periods of low rainfall.
The wet and dry cycles associated with ENSO episodes can have serious impacts on water supply and island economies. For instance the strong La Niña of 1998 to 2000 was responsible for acute water shortages in many islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans (Shea et al., 2001; Hay et al., 2003), which resulted in partial shut-downs in the tourism and industrial sectors. In Fiji and Mauritius, borehole yields decreased by 40% during the dry periods, and export crops including sugar cane were also severely affected (World Bank, 2000). The situation was exacerbated by the lack of adequate infrastructure such as reservoirs and water distribution networks in most islands.
Increases in demand related to population and economic growth, in particular tourism, continue to place serious stress on existing water resources. Excessive damming, over-pumping and increasing pollution are all threats that will continue to increase in the future. Groundwater resources are especially at risk from pollution in many small islands (UNEP, 2000), and in countries such as the Comoros, the polluted waters are linked to outbreaks of yellow fever and cholera (Hay et al., 2003).
Access to safe potable water varies across countries. There is very good access in countries such as Singapore, Mauritius and most Caribbean islands, whereas in states such as Kiribati and Comoros it has been estimated that only 44% and 50% of the population, respectively, have access to safe water. Given the major investments needed to develop storage and provide treatment and distribution of water, it is evident that climate change would further decrease the ability of many islands to meet their future requirements.
Several small island countries have begun to invest, at great financial cost, in the implementation of various augmentation and adaptation strategies to offset current water shortages. The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Maldives, Seychelles, Singapore, Tuvalu and others have invested in desalination plants. However, in the Pacific, some of the systems are now only being used during the dry season, owing to operational problems and high maintenance costs. Options such as large storage reservoirs and improved water harvesting are now being explored more widely, although such practices have been in existence in countries such as the Maldives since the early 1900s. In other cases, countries are beginning to invest in improving the scientific database that could be used for future adaptation plans. In the Cook Islands, for example, a useful index for estimating drought intensity was recently developed based on analysis of more than 70 years of rainfall data; this will be a valuable tool in the long-term planning of water resources in these islands (Parakoti and Scott, 2002).