« Water is the route out of poverty for individuals and communities. Managing water is essential if the world is to achieve sustainable development. » Ban Ki-moon, Secretary‑General, United Nations
Water crisis is probably one of the most crucial issues in the world today. Nearly fifty per cent of the developing world’s population doesn’t have access to improved sanitation facilities and 884 million people still use unsafe water. And as you read these lines, every 20 seconds, a child died of water-related disease. In fact no less than 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease: 84 percent are children and 98 percent occur in developing world.
The United Nations Human Development Report wrote « The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.»
The use of unsafe water is a break to development and it has been neglected too long by politicians.
Kochiro Matsuura, Director‑General, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said « Despite the vital importance of water to all aspects of human life, the sector has been plagued by a chronic lack of political support, poor governance and underinvestment. As a result, hundreds of millions of people around the world remain trapped in poverty and ill health and exposed to the risks of water-related disasters, environmental degradation and even political instability and conflict. »
In Sub-Saharan Africa, women and children spend most of their day collecting water, often from polluted sources. We have the privilege of having it at the tip of our fingers and often don’t realize that our 5 minutes morning shower represent the daily among of water that people use in developing countries. It is possible to bring safe, clean water and sanitation to the rest of the world.
We don’t need to find a cure. We know how to do it, we have the solution, and we must take decisive actions to build a better world.
Sources: The United Nations World Water Development Report 3, World Health Organization, Unicef, Unesco, Water.org, World Water Council