Dr. Peter Gleick, founder of the Pacific Institute and an international water expert, gave a speech titled “Water as a Human Right” on Oct. 25 as part of a series on sustainability to continue throughout the next three weeks.

The du Bois Center was filled with students, professors, Flagstaff citizens and students from Prescott College who were curious about the topic.

Jodi Norris, a Flagstaff resident, said she heard about the speech in the Arizona Daily Sun.

“I’m hoping [the speech] is about the water crisis and the lack of water in the world, and how we might solve this crisis,” Norris said.

Gleick said he was proud to announce that just three months ago, the United Nations officially passed a resolution that makes access to sanitary drinking water a human right. Gleick said the world needs to change its thinking about water usage from the old, 20th-century ways.

“It’s a time of new challenges and new thinking, new technologies and ideas,” Gleick said.

In the 20th century, according to Gleick, the goal was to just meet the water demand. However, with an increase in that demand due to population swelling and a decrease in supply, that goal is now insufficient.

“The failure to meet basic human needs for water is the biggest failure of the 20th century,” Gleick said. “Populations are growing very rapidly, and despite our best efforts, we have failed to meet water needs for everyone.”

According to Gleick, 40 percent of the world’s population does not have access to sanitary drinking water. He also said 80 percent of our water goes to agriculture. However, the amount of irrigated land per person is also declining due to the rise in population. Gleick said as climate change continues to warm the planet, the demand for water will only get bigger as people need more water to stay hydrated and keep crops alive in the heat.

“Forty percent of the world’s food production comes from water that comes from unsustainable water sources,” Gleick said.

Gleick said he believes the world has to think about water differently now in the 21st century. He refers to this new mindset as “the soft path for water” and lists four aspects that need to be improved for the sake of the planet:

The first thing Gleick said must be done is to meet the basic human and ecological needs for water. He emphasizes this is not a technological or an ecological problem, but more of a political one. He gave the example that many African women have to travel miles every day to collect unsanitary water to bring home to their families. Because they spend time on this, they do not have time for education.

Gleick said the next step is to rethink the supply and demand of water. As far as supply goes, he sees some parts of the world definitely need more traditional infrastructure to transport and treat water, but it must be built more efficiently and to different standards than what most countries still use today. He said he would also like to see a balance between the use of new and conventional technology.

“Supply should also mean rainwater harvesting and relearning traditional thoughts about supply,” Gleick said.

Another important part of supply is using wastewater for duties such as watering golf courses. He said he would like to see reclaimed water and freshwater used in a more connected way.

Gleick said the Southwest has historically overused its water resources and is now struggling. However, he said the United States has become more efficient as a whole over the past few decades.

“The United States uses less water today for everything than we used 30 years ago,” Gleick said.

The third aspect Gleick said is critical is rethinking how the world defines water quality. He said the Safe Drinking Water Act is not up-to-date with new water contaminants, and certain particles are not being filtered out of the water. Also, Gleick stressed the point that bottled water is not any better than tap water, primarily because the quality of it is monitored by the Food and Drug Administration, who does not monitor its production frequently and has not kept current on the types of contaminants found in modern water supplies.

People of all nations need to rethink water economics and institutions, in Gleick’s opinion. He said he believes people do not pay enough for water, and pointed out the average person in the United States pays more for a cell phone or cable per month than water.

“We’re not good at the economics of water, and we’re not good at water management,” Gleick said.

As far as making water a human right goes, Gleick said he thinks it will take a while to be put into full effect, however he is optimistic about it and feels it is the right thing to do.

“I think it will help move us all in the right path towards the soft path of water,” Gleick said.