Protection over restoration to ensure water sustainability

Abstract

Plastics pollution, persistent chemical contamination and inadequately treated wastewater are three key aspects that hinder access to safe and affordable water for all. We argue that a strong priority on pollution avoidance, research for remediation, and tighter regulation and monitoring must be implemented to make progress.

Keywords: Environmental impact; Water resources.

Fig. 1

Water unsustainability.

Fig. 2. A pilot hotel case study towards reduction of single-use plastics in hotels.

Plastic elimination can be implemented without delay, as successfully demonstrated by the efforts of the non-governmental organization BeyondPlasticMed. To curtail the more than 3000 billion particles of microplastic found in the Mediterranean Sea, the most polluted sea in the world, BeyondPlasticMed developed a toolkit method for removing single-use plastics from hotels that was successfully implemented at the InterContinental Marseille – Hotel Dieu, France. The methodology was comprised of six steps: (1) Assess the current state of plastic use at the hotel location (2) Prioritize the single-use plastics (SUPs) that will be tackled (3) Develop strategies to remove, reduce, or replace these SUPs (4) Select the best sustainable alternative to SUPs (5) Trial run new alternatives in hotel environement (6) Gauge trial run impact. As a result of this initiative, waste production was reduced by 78% and costs for consumers went down by 42% with no change in consumer satisfaction. The hotel staff was engaged, and one year later most measures were still in place. The project is now being expanded to locations around the Mediterranean sea including in Tunisia, Greece, and Spain.