1,000s Dying - NO WATER!

1,000s Die -
NO WATER

WASHINGTON D.C.  - World leaders who met here were being urged to ensure that the rich/poor and urban/rural divides don't determine who has access to clean water as climate and population pressures drive the number of those living without beyond 1 billion.

Women and girls in developing countries often struggle to provide clean, safe water for their families on a daily basis. What is the story . . . ?

Global leaders are gathered Sweden to discuss water and sanitation issues. Hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute, this week-long event is being held under the banner "Responding to Global Changes: Accessing Water for the Common Good" and serves as a forum to discuss challenges and solutions to water-related issues.

Improved access to water and sanitation can have a widespread positive impact, improving health, child education, and poverty, and reducing conflict -- and important gains have been made over the past 20 years. But as the world's population grows and the competition for clean water intensifies, these goals are now threatening to drift farther away.

"Every day approximately 4,500 children die before their fifth birthday due to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene," says the United Nations Children's Fund. "Access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, and improved hygiene is crucial for infants and children to get the best possible start in life." [See the full statement from UNICEF below.]

Some Progress on Water, Less on Sanitation

The United Nations declared the years 2005 to 2015 the international decade to take action on water. Although 87 percent of the global population now has access to safe drinking water -- up from 77 percent in 1990 -- a lot of work remains to bring clean water to the other 1 billion people. In urban areas, coverage is now over 95 percent. But only 58 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa had satisfactory access to water in 2006, notes OneWorld.net's Water and Sanitation topic guide.

There are also concerns that the progress being made will not hold. Rising prices and climate change could reverse the gains made in the last two decades and limit access to water for millions of poor families.

The number of people without access to clean water is expected to rise as water becomes more scarce due to the effects of pollution, urbanization, and climate change, warn researchers at the nonprofit Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, DC-based think tank. Higher levels of pollution from urbanization and agriculture will reduce the amount of clean water available, and the effects of climate change could alter rainfall patterns, causing severe droughts and floods.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the number of people living without access to clean water will rise to 1.8 billion by 2025.

And progress on sanitation has been even slower, as this issue attracts only a little over 10 percent of funds available for all water and sanitation programs. From 1990 to 2006, access to safe sanitation increased from 54 to 62 percent, but 2.5 billion people still did not have proper facilities to use, most of them in rural areas.

One promising initiative is the WASH-in-Schools program, which has extended drinking water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene education to 1,000 schools worldwide over the past year. The effort has brought together nonprofit organizations, corporations, U.S. schools and government entities, and the United Nations to help turn schools around the world into centers for community health.

Water as a Human Right

In recent years, changing weather patterns, the global economic crisis, and a number of humanitarian emergencies have left millions without basic water and sanitation services. In the face of these difficulties, advocacy groups have been reiterating that access to water is a fundamental right, as it is a prerequisite for human health.

"The world is facing increasing crises, many of which are intensifying competing demands for water in most regions of the world," says Jan Eliasson, the chair of the Sweden-based advocacy group WaterAid. "Already, billions of the world's poorest people are affected by the water and sanitation crisis. As a global community, we must ensure that concerted action is taken."

Access to clean water is not included in the original Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2002, the UN Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights recognized providing access to water and sanitation as a goal for signatory countries, but not a universal obligation.

Universal access to water has benefits beyond reducing the rates of disease, explains the U.S.-based ONE campaign: "When water is unavailable, tensions grow both within and among nations, and water scarcity has contributed to political unrest in Sudan and other countries. Lack of water also has educational ramifications.... Girls may often drop out of primary school because their schools lack separate toilets and easy access to safe water."

Tens of thousands of advocates have urged U.S. lawmakers to support a bill that would provide 100 million people worldwide access to clean water and sanitation by 2015. The Durbin-Corker "Water for the World" act will target developing countries to improve access and affordability.

Investment efforts should be focused on simple, affordable, and effective interventions, argues the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). For example, providing facilities and teaching children to wash their hands with soap and water can help reduce deaths from diarrhea by up to 47 percent.

"Safe water and good sanitation are essential to poverty reduction and good health," explains Nigel Ede, an IFRC staff member in Indonesia. "But when you compare international funding, remarkably little is spent on clean water and sanitation."

The other side of water scarcity is water management. Many advocacy groups fear that as water becomes more precious, it will be reserved for the world's wealthy population.

"With water availability expected to be one of the major and most severe impacts of climate change in many areas of the world, sufficient and equitable allocation of water will become more and more vital for both people and nature," warns the environmental watchdog group WWF.

Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Worldwatch Institute, United Nations Children's Fund, OneWorld US, OneWorld UK, ONE Campaign, Water Advocates, WaterAid, WWF