Why Water Matters

Excerpted from the United Nation’s “Water for Life Decade”

The word “water” appears nowhere in the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG), but it is central to each of them. Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that access to water and sanitation is fundamental to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The following excerpt from the U.N.’s official “Water for Life Decade” publication outlines a few of the challenges we face in making safe water accessible to all.

Without improved access to clean drinking water and sanitation, the overarching goal of poverty reduction cannot be achieved. The economic consequences resulting from a lack of clean water and improved sanitation are often underestimated. Hygiene-related illnesses sap economic growth and cost billions of working days each year. Time spent collecting water from far-flung sources prevents women from doing other productive work and girls from attending school.

Improving access to safe water and sanitation is critical not only to reducing poverty but also to achieving the Millennium targets for health, including reducing maternal and child mortality and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases. More than 2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die each year from diseases associated with unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

The Millennium Declaration includes a commitment to achieving gender equality and empowering women. Progress on water and sanitation is essential to that empowerment. Women and girls suffer the most from a lack of clean water and private sanitation facilities. Women and girls must fetch and manage water for family and other uses.
 
On average, women and girls walk four miles each day, carrying 5 gallons of water. If schools lack adequate sanitation facilities, girls often will not attend.

Considering the finite nature of freshwater resources and increasing demand, the need to protect and manage water resources properly is crucial. Through the Millennium Development Goals, governments have committed to ensuring environmental sustainability and reversing the loss of environmental resources. Reducing poverty and addressing unsustainable consumption patterns are critical to halting environmental degradation and ensuring environmental sustainability.

 

Why Water Matters

Water for Sanitation & Health

Clean water and adequate sanitation are two critical factors in ensuring human health and protection against a wide range of diseases. The International Decade for Action: “Water for Life” 2005-2015 calls on the international community to strengthen efforts to increase access to water and sanitation for all by 2015 in order to combat disease and improve the health and well-being of the world’s population.

The challenge
 

In the village of Ga Tuo, in China's Zhaojue County, Layi Dage washes his hands at an open-air spigot. According to UNICEF, "Lack of safe water and sanitation is the world's single largest cause of illness. In 2002, 42 percent of households had no toilets, and one in six people had no access to safe water.

Lack of safe water and adequate sanitation is the world’s single largest cause of illness. Two million people, most of them children, die every year from waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, and millions become seriously debilitated.

Lack of safe water and poor management of human wastes can spread diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, trachoma and tapeworms—many of which can be fatal to people in the developing world. Other water-associated diseases such as malaria and filariasis affect vast populations worldwide. More than 1 million people die every year from malaria alone.
 
Unsafe water and lack of sanitation are major factors underlying many of the 10 million child deaths every year. Repeated episodes of waterborne diseases like diarrhea can push children to the brink of survival, leaving them too weak and malnourished to survive even common childhood illnesses.

Most of these deaths are preventable. It is estimated that almost half of the nearly 2 million deaths from diarrhea every year could be prevented through an understanding of basic hygiene.

Water scarcity forces people to consume contaminated water, leading to waterborne diseases. In 2005, half a billion people lived in countries defined as water-stressed or water-scarce. This figure is expected to increase to 2.4 billion and 3.4 billion, respectively, by 2025, with North Africa and West Asia particularly affected. I

ncreased urbanization is placing an enormous strain on existing water and sanitation infrastructure. Urban centers in developing countries have grown rapidly without adequate infrastructure planning, resulting in millions of immigrants who have little access to safe sanitation or water supplies.

This puts the entire population at risk, causing serious environmental damage. Growing numbers of HIV-positive people, who are especially susceptible to disease and infection, depend on clean water for their health and survival.

What needs to be done?

The “Water for Life Decade” is an opportunity to increase efforts to provide safe water and sanitation for all by 2015 and to ensure a healthy living environment.

Why Water Matters

Water for Food, Agriculture & Rural Livelihood

Agriculture is the main source of the world’s food supply and the prime source of livelihood for billions of people in rural areas. Irrigation for agriculture consumes large quantities of freshwater, leading in many places to increasing water scarcity. Mounting pressure on natural resources by a growing population leads to land and water degradation. The International Decade for Action: “Water for Life” 2005-2015 presents an opportunity to promote the sustainable management of water in agriculture and to contribute to meeting the goals of poverty eradication and environmental sustainability.

The challenge

Global food production will have to increase by 60 percent from 2000 to 2030 to meet growing demands resulting from population growth. This requires a 14 percent increase in water used for irrigated agriculture.

Irrigated land, which represents only about 20 percent of the world’s farmland, produces around 40 percent of the world’s food supply and 60 percent of cereals.Though more productive than rain-fed agriculture, irrigation is coming under close scrutiny for its relatively poor yield considering the resources used. Growing water scarcity in many regions calls for a much more productive use of water in agriculture and for more transparent water allocation mechanisms between sectors, giving special attention to the needs of the environment.

One in five people in the world depend on fish as their primary source of protein, and fisheries provide direct or indirect livelihoods for 400 million people. More than 70 percent of the world’s fish stocks are either fully exploited or depleted, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization study, posing a serious challenge to food sources and employment in the future.

Over-exploitation of water for irrigation and the intensification of agriculture also pose a threat to the sustainability of agricultural systems in many regions of the world. In recent decades, shallow groundwater has become an important source of water for irrigation, but has also led in most places to over-pumping of aquifers and pollution from agro-chemicals. The inappropriate use of fertilizers and pesticides can lead to pollution of drinking water, rivers and lakes.

Wastewater is used widely in developing countries for irrigation and can be invaluable where water is scarce. However, it must be properly treated. In poor countries, sewage is often applied directly to the land, exposing farmers and food consumers to parasites and organic and chemical contaminants.

What needs to be done?

During the “Water for Life Decade” and beyond, a greater effort is needed to help farmers around the world produce more food of better quality with less water and less stress on the environment. Only then can we expect to meet the dual goal of poverty eradication and environmental sustainability.

Why Water Matters

Water for Women

Women’s lives all around the world are closely connected to water. The “Water for Life Decade” recognizes the central role that women play in providing, managing and safeguarding water and as the main role models within the family when it comes to sanitation and hygiene. During the “Decade,” it is crucial to ensure the full participation and equal involvement of women in water-related development efforts and to approach water and sanitation issues from a gender perspective.

The challenge

A young Hatian girl fills a bucket with water to haul to her family. In develooping countries, it is ofter the women and girls who are responsible for carrying water. They walk four miles a day on average while carrying 5 gallons of water.

In most societies, women have primary responsibility for water supply, sanitation and health at the household level. Water is necessary not only for drinking but also for food preparation, care of domestic animals, crop irrigation, personal hygiene, care of the sick, cleaning, washing and waste disposal—all activities that are largely the responsibility of women. Women and girls have the greatest need for private and safe sanitation facilities.

Women also suffer disproportionately in water-related disasters, such as floods, as they often do not receive warnings or other information about hazards and risks.

Women have considerable knowledge about water resources, including location, quality and storage methods, and they are often the most motivated to ensure that water supply and sanitation facilities work. Indigenous women in particular often have extensive traditional knowledge regarding water sources, conservation and management.

This central role of women is often overlooked in efforts to improve management of water resources and extend access to adequate sanitation. Women often have no voice in decisions about the kind of services they receive.

What needs to be done?

By approaching water supply and sanitation from a gender perspective, the benefits and costs of water use can accrue equitably to all groups, and the creativity, energy and knowledge of both women and men can contribute to making water schemes work better. Importantly, improvements in access to safe water and sanitation that involve both women and men will lead to multiple benefits in other areas such as reducing poverty, enabling girls to get an education, and reducing child and maternal mortality.