Drinking Water Access Urged In Report

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Investing as little as 0.16 percent of the world's gross domestic product – or $198 billion per year – could give half a billion people regular access to safe drinking water within four years, a U.N. official said Friday.

That would halve the number of people who risk serious illness and death on a daily basis, the United Nations Environment Program said.

The findings are presented in the U.N.'s Green Economy report, which also warns that if the global community continues to ignore water services investments, demand for water risks outstripping supply by 40 percent before 2030.

UNEP spokesman Nick Nuttall said the world total of people without access to safe drinking water currently totals around 1 billion people.

According to the report, people living in countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam are particularly prone to catching waterborne diseases because of the poor water sanitation there.

"Accelerated investment in water-dependent ecosystems, water infrastructure and water management, coupled with effective policies, can boost water and food security, improve human health and promote economic growth," said U.N. Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

Prof. Mike Young, lead author of the water chapter of the report, said that "without this investment and policy reform, water supply crises will become increasingly common."

UNEP said that more water productivity, recycling, new dams and desalination plants could largely help avoid increased drinking water scarcity but that money also needs to be put toward infrastructure, water policy reforms and technologies.

The findings were presented during this week's World Water Week in Stockholm.

Its participants also signed a statement urging next year's Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to commit to achieving "universal provisioning of safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and modern energy services by the year 2030." That would include making water safer and more available, reducing water pollution, increasing the quantity of recycled water, and using water more efficiently in energy production, agriculture and the food supply chain.

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Comments

[William Waterway Marks]

04:06 AM on 09/26/2011

Between the lines - investment in developing control of world's water by transnationals who will control people's lives while a guaranteeing themselves a return that will perpetuate the wealth and power of the connected minority.

[steve11407]

10:59 PM on 08/28/2011

The UN must be running short on slush fund money.

[danglines]

02:44 PM on 08/28/2011

So let's do away with the EPA and make potable water even more scarce.

[thundermummy]

10:46 PM on 08/27/2011

Sorry, that water is needed for fracking and other environmental nightmares so that some people can make lots of money.

[ldyqtee6]

07:05 PM on 08/27/2011

There would be plenty of clean drinking water for the world's population if we'd stop polluting it in the name of progress.

[65-Still Alive]

06:11 PM on 08/27/2011

I think the subject is clean water kids.
Here in the United States we get all puffed up about what great medical care and drugs we have.
Fact is, clean water and proper sanitation have more to do with our overall good health than either medical care or drugs.
I'd say our health is a lot more important than politics.

[FreeHat]

04:29 PM on 08/27/2011

Good, let's do it.

[Aleks Hunter]

02:40 PM on 08/27/2011

If God wanted man to have clean drinking water, He would have given us lakes and rivers full of the stuff.

[HarleySportster]

02:10 PM on 08/27/2011

http://quakerearthcare.org/Concerns/SacredCommons/SacredCommonsWater.html

The above link is a fairly long web page describing some of the challenges we currently have in water supplies, as well as charts showing how much water we use on a daily basis in manufacturing, agriculture, and drinking water.

[Cathy 100]

01:43 PM on 08/27/2011

Cathy 100
Want to be really nervous about our drinking water? Everyone should watch the documentary titled
"TAPPED". Private companies around the world are stockpiling H2o and we will be standing in lines to purchase a neccesity of life

[Aleks Hunter]

02:41 PM on 08/27/2011

Get rid of the EPA and watch the air filtration business boom.

[FreeHat]

04:32 PM on 08/27/2011

You embellished a little. The movie is about bottled water.

[SamBaby]

01:35 PM on 08/27/2011

And the Republicans have added wording to the current budget to defund the EPA.
Call your congressmen!! Please!!

[Kenz300]

12:41 PM on 08/27/2011

Too little resources meets too many people. The world added a billion people in the last 12 years and will add another billion in the next 12 years. Where will all the food, water, oil and jobs come from to support this massive population? This continuing population growth is not sustainable.

[Maggie K]

02:53 PM on 08/27/2011

Not quite so simple, though I'm sure it plays a role. It is how food and water is managed and appropriated and in essence wasted. This website has some interesting info:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/601/water-and-development

"In other words, it is not so much of a water shortage crisis, but a water management crisis."

[Kiel]

11:37 AM on 08/27/2011

Water should never be privatized. Anything required for life should be off limits to the market. Until we do that, the water problem will only get worse.

[barbra1971]

11:55 AM on 08/27/2011

It was the first thing I thought after reading this article. I am glad there are others like me in the world.
F&F

[ttigerlilyx2]

03:53 PM on 08/27/2011

My brother lives outside the city, and was really angry that the city told him he HAD to hook up to their water lines and pay them their monthly fees.
I told him to keep his well in good shape, he's blessed with pure spring water that may pay him more than an oil well someday.

[BluePhantom2]

10:27 AM on 08/27/2011

Yet another UN report insisting that a certain amout of $$$ will solve yet another local problem. Constantly hear how the US shouldn't be the worlds policeman but want to fund the UN for another boondoogle!

[Jane Claymore]

10:03 AM on 08/27/2011

So what else is new? If you think this congress gonna do anything about it, think again.