Fresh water is an extremely important resource in any society. However, improper distribution and use of water leads to problems of water scarcity.
Statistics show that water resources in Bali are only enough to support a population of 2.7 million, however, the population has grown to 3.5 million, excluding that 4 million tourists who visit the island every year. As the number of tourists increase, water scarcity is becoming a big and increasing problem. As of 2012, tourism used 65% of Bali’s fresh water. As the tourist sector relies heavily on the availability of fresh water, water is often ‘taken’ from the locals and diverted to tourism related uses. There have been reported cases of water being redirected away from agriculture to the tourism sector, causing water shortage related problems among the locals.
The high need for fresh water leads is squeezing the lands dry, leading to problems like a worsening water quality and a lower water table. A lowering water table is not only harmful to the land but is also detrimental to the poorer locals who rely on well water as they cannot afford to pay for water from the tap. Investigations have also shown that many rivers in Bali dry up during the dry season, and the rivers which currently still run all year round are also threatening to disappear. This problem also links in with the clearing of forests, which play an important role in maintaining a flow of fresh water.
Statistics show that in 4 to 5 star hotels, each room consumes approximately 300 litres of water a day, and each hotel as a whole consumes up to 50000 litres of clean water a day. This, not including water usage from villas, ‘lower stared’ hotels, swimming pools etc…, is a huge amount of water. The graph below illustrates the difference in the amount of water used by tourists staying in hotels, villas and locals.
The graph clearly illustrates the disproportionate use of and distribution of fresh water in Bali, with tourism consuming an extremely large majority of it.
Based on an comparison between the two maps below which show the areas in which there is a water problem and the areas in which tourists are attracted to, a link can be drawn between tourism and water resource depletion.
Credit: NowBali
Credit: bali.com