Abstract

This presentation examines the question of whether economic and population growth is compatible with water sustainability.  It reviews the concerns expressed in the 1960s and 70s that in a world with finite resources there are limits to growth.  In trying to understand the relationship between growth and water sustainability it explores the use of metrics for both.  The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and the annual population growth are used as metrics of growth.  The water security scores, developed recently by the Institute for Water, Environment and Health of the United Nations University, are used as a measure of water sustainability.  These scores are composites of different indicators used to assess progress towards several water-related Sustainable Development Goals.  Data at the national level for all countries of the world show a strong correlation between water security and GDP per capita.

Looking deeper into the relationship between growth and sustainability, it is important to differentiate between high-income and low-income countries.  The differences in the water sustainability challenges in these two groups of countries are explored through two examples.  Water sustainability and growth issues are discussed in Arizona and in Ethiopia, as representatives of water-challenged regions in high-income and low-income parts of the world respectively.

Bio

Angelos Findikakis studied at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and at Stanford University where he earned his PhD in Civil Engineering.  He specializes in water resources, hydraulics, and hydrology.  He spent most of his career working for Bechtel Corporation, working on feasibility and planning studies, and supporting the licensing and design of large engineering projects in the United States and in several other countries.  His project experience encompasses civil infrastructure, fossil and nuclear power plants, nuclear processing and radioactive waste storage facilities, mineral processing facilities, and environmental cleanup and restoration of contaminated sites.  As a Bechtel Fellow he has an active role in Bechtel's technical excellence program.

He has been active in different national and international professional associations.  He is currently serving as Liaison of the International Association of Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) to the United Nations Water program.  He is also serving as Editor of IAHR's quarterly magazine Hydrolink.  He served as Adjunct Professor at Stanford University, where for several years he taught a class on water resources management.