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What are the problems of accessing water in the world?
16 Apr 2013 Water, Sanitation and HygieneVarious
Covering 71% of the globe’s surface, water is a vital resource for each and every one of us (the proportion of sweet water is only 2.8%). Despite this evidence, access to drinking water is not a daily reality for billions of human beings. This asset has created and continues to create conflicts in all four corners of the earth, but above all, although some people lack it desperately, there is not a single day when water is not polluted and wasted. To remedy this alarming situation, constant efforts must be made. On 28 July 2010, the UN Assembly General adopted a resolution declaring that the right to safe and clean drinking water is “a fundamental right, essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights”. Terre des hommes shares this vision and has been running projects for access to water, sanitation and hygiene since the year 2000, convinced that simple water treatment and the establishment of basic sanitary installations can, in effect, save lives, when accompanied by the necessary behavioural change.
Drinking water and hygiene
When the issue of access to water is tackled, it is necessary to distinguish between access to improved water points on the one hand, and sanitation on the other. The Millenium Development Goals (MDG) enabled an additional 2 billion people to reach improved water points between 1990 and 2010. Today, more than 6 billion people can access them, representing nearly 90% of the world’s population. A significant effort must, nevertheless, be made to meet the needs of 783 million people, i.e. the combined population of the United States and all the states in the European Union together.
If the MDG have allowed considerable increase in the world’s population’s access to improved water points, 2.5 billion people still have no access to adequate sanitation installations. Although in terms of sanitation, global coverage went from 49% in 1990 to 63% in 2010, one figure is enough to measure the extent of the task still to be accomplished: In 2013, 15% of the world’s population, i.e. 1.1 billion people, still have to defecate in the open. The lack of decent sanitary installations causes considerable harm to public health. Each year, 1.8 million people die from simple diarrhoea, and 1.3 million die as a result of malaria.
Reduce disparities
Beyond the statistics, there are global disparities which must be reduced. While more than 6 billion people can now access improved water points (without these necessarily being for drinking), in the ‘least developed’ countries, only 63% of the population is covered. Despite substantial efforts, Sub-Saharan Africa in particular lags far behind and has the lowest rate of coverage for improved water resources in the world. In general, efforts must be made to decrease drastically the inequalities between the rich and the poor, and between urban and rural areas. According to the latest UN studies carried out in 59 of the least developed countries, only half their populations have access to water and sanitation, whilst 16% have no access to improved water points or to basic sanitation installations.
Tdh devotes itself to water
Since 2000, Tdh has already developed 73 projects focussing on ‘WASH’ (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) in 16 countries of intervention. Every day the Foundation joins in with the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) to reduce infant mortality. It is a fact that drinking water and sanitary installations are indispensible elements for the healthy development of new-born babies. The projects set up have already benefited more than 2.2 million people. They go from the supply of drinking water to the improvement of sanitation by eliminating used water and waste; rain-water management; promotion of hygiene; through the transfer of know-how and risks management and prevention.
The work of Tdh in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene is motivated by a rather simple idea: access to water is a fundamental human right and may not be based on a market approach. Furthermore, in countries as different as Senegal , Peru or Afghanistan , one of the priorities is the participation of the communities throughout the project cycle. This must be adapted to the local culture, with affordable and viable technology, while showing respect for the environment.
