WATER – A Global Problem
7th January 2012 - by Ellen Teague
At this moment, 884 million people are living without access to clean water, and 2.6 billion lack something as basic as a toilet and a sewage system to flush away their waste. We are in the midst of a global water and sanitation crisis. Why?
Lack of water
It is the world’s poorest men and women who are often forced to live in the most vulnerable areas, such as those prone to drought, or where water supply is insufficient to meet demand.
Climate change is already making this worse. Desert regions are likely to become drier and hotter; unpredictable rains will bring more drought and devastating floods; and water stored in glaciers will eventually melt. The greatest impacts are likely to be felt in Africa, where the largest number of people already live in water poverty.
Lack of access
While some poor communities live in areas where there is technically enough water to go round, they are often unable to access it. This can be due to insufficient investment in planning and infrastructure (such as laying water pipes), a lack of expertise to meet the need, or simply because some groups are favoured over others and some voices, such as women’s, aren’t heard. The international community and national governments have compounded this, failing to prioritise and coordinate action on water and sanitation.
The World Health Organisation recommends access to at least 20 litres of water per day that is from a safe source (in other words, protected from outside contamination) and within
1km distance. In practice, 1.1 billion people have been estimated to live further away than this, forcing many people to collect water from unsafe drains, ditches or streams.
The Ripple Effect
A lack of water and safe sanitation has a profound effect on the lives of whole communities, undermining people’s efforts to lift themselves out of poverty and endangering the prospects of future generations.
Half the girls who drop out of primary school in sub-Saharan Africa do so because of poor water and sanitation facilities. Unsafe or inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene results in over 1.7 million deaths annually – more than from all forms of violence, including war. In developing countries, women and girls spend an estimated 40 billion hours every year collecting water. This can mean spending as much as eight hours a day carrying up to 40 kg of water on their heads or hips.
Water needs to be at the heart of policy and decision-making at international, national and local levels. World leaders have pledged to address access to water and sanitation through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other initiatives, including finally recognising it as a human right in 2010. Yet with so many people still living in extreme water poverty, it’s vital that they now move from words to action. Globally, we are on track to halve the number of people without clean drinking water, but we’re far from meeting the sanitation goal: over a third of the world’s population lack safe toilets and sewage systems. In sub-Saharan Africa the picture is worse: we are set to miss the water target by 20 years and the sanitation target by nearly 200 years. And even if the targets are met, 672 million people will still lack clean water and 1.7 billion safe sanitation.
Global action to date
The international Sanitation and Water for All initiative was set up by the UK and the Netherlands in 2008 to firmly place water and sanitation on the global agenda, including a specific focus on the MDGs in the most off-track countries. While this was a positive step forward, more support is needed from world leaders to help the initiative deliver what it set out to do. Millennium Development Goal 7 is to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Next stop – the G8
The G8 – a group of the world’s eight most powerful countries – has a key role to play in ending water poverty. The next G8 summit will be held in May 2012 and we want world leaders to raise their game. This means putting their money where their mouth is and making concrete political and financial commitments to ensure the MDG target is met by 2015. It also means giving the Sanitation and Water for All initiative their official backing, to turn these
promises into reality.
The UK plays a key role in the G8 and takes over the Presidency this year, in time for the 2013 summit. This is David Cameron’s golden opportunity to ensure real progress is made. The clock is ticking if we are to meet the MDG goal in time – that’s why CAFOD has launched its Thirst for change campaign, which is supported by Columban JPIC.
Please email David Cameron through CAFOD’s website and call on him to lead the world in demanding clean water and safe sanitation for all. This will help towards turning the tide on water poverty.
See:
http://www.cafod.org.uk/thirst
