The existence of unhealthy water in many developing countries is a threat facing the security of mankind which is much greater that armed conflicts. A global plan is needed to fight the global water and sanitation crisis before the deadline for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in 2015.
The 2006 Human Development Report entitled “Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis” says that it is human right to allocate at least 20 litres of clean water to every citizen per day.
The report has stressed that in order to resolve the increasing water and sanitation crisis, which results in the death of some 2 million children worldwide every year, it is vital to outline plans for world action under the leadership of the Group of Eight (G-8) (the G-7 plus Russia).
The authors of this report say: Some 1.8 million children die from diarrhoea every year. A glass of clean water and sanitation can prevent these deaths. In addition, 443 million academic days are wasted in the world due to water-related illnesses. Some 50 % of the population of developing countries suffer from health problems resulting from the shortage of clean water and the lack of sanitation.
The interesting point is that the water and sanitation crisis not only has human costs but also, it also neutralizes economic growth. This is to the extent that the Sub-Saharan Africa region losses 5 % of its gross domestic product (GDP) and this is much higher than the amount of aid this region receives.
Despite this, contrary to wars and natural disasters, the global water crisis does not result in coordinated international action. Similar to hunger, it is a concealed emergency situation which only victimizes the poor and is tolerated by those who possess the necessary resources, technology and political power to end this situation.
Dealing with such a crisis is being mentioned at a time that there is less than a decade left to achieve the MDG targets by 2015. One of the important objectives of this document is to reduce the number of people who are deprived of water by 50 %. In addition, the MDG aims to reduce mortality rate of under-five children, guarantee the preservation of the environment, and enhance sanitation levels of at least 100 million of the world’s slum dwellers. This all depends on access to clean water and the existence of healthy sanitation networks.
The head of the UN Development Programme referred to the necessity for call up for a global plan to deal with the increasing water and sanitation crisis and said: “The eight MDG targets are in some way interrelated. As a result, if we fail to achieve the water and sanitation target, it will slow down the achievement of the other targets.”
Kamal Darvish stressed: “If coordinated action is not taken to provide the world’s poor with clean water and healthy sanitation, then millions of the world’s poor will be left to face unavoidable poverty and unhealthy sanitation.”
He said that all world countries have a collective responsibility to fight this crisis and stressed: “Governments must invest 1 % of their GDP into water and sanitation.”
Under present circumstances, in order to achieve the MDG target on water, the world is moving based on a plan which is mainly the result of China and India’s great progress. However as far as sanitation is concerned, only Latin American and East Asian regions are moving on track.
In addition, this global image covers the real problems. This is because on current trends Sub-Saharan Africa will reach the water target in 2040 and the sanitation target in 2076. For sanitation South Asia is 4 years off track, and for water the Arab States are 27 years off track.
This report says: “Measured on a country by country basis, the water target will be missed by 234 million people, with 55 countries off track. The sanitation target will be missed by 430 million people, with 74 countries off track.”
Kevin Watkins, the lead author of the 2006 Human Development Report, says: When we talk about water and sanitation, the world people are concerned about the holding of many conferences and the lack of credible action in that regard. In truth, the diversity and variety of international administrators is an obstacle to the formation of powerful international movements and fronts to improve the water and sanitation crisis.
According to Watkins, national governments need to outline and draw up credible policies and plans to deal with the water and sanitation crisis. At the same time, global plans need to be draw up with the active cooperation of the G-8 countries which centralize the sporadic international attempts and become a mobilizing force and by placing the water and sanitation issue on its agenda, motivate officials to take political action.
In addition to outlining global programmes, the 2006 Human Development Report mentions three issues for consideration:

1) Make water a human right: According to the Human Development Report, every citizen should be allocated at least 20 litres of clean water a day and this should be at no cost for those too poor. According to the report, whilst every person in the US and Britain wastes 50 litres of water a day just by flushing the toilet, many poor people pass their day with less than 5 litres of dirty water.
In order to achieve this goal, all governments should go beyond vague constitutional principles to enshrine the human right to water in enabling legislation.
2) Draw up national strategies for water and Sanitation: Governments should aim at a minimum of 1% of GDP for water and sanitation spending. In addition, they should aim to increase this amount. Water and sanitation plans suffer from under-financing, with public spending typically less than 0.5% of GDP. Government investments in water and sanitation are dwarfed by military spending. In Ethiopia the military budget is 10 times the water and sanitation budget and in Pakistan, 47 times.
3) International aid should increase: The Human Development Report has asked for a further 3.4 – 4 billion dollar aid in addition to the current help given to these plans.
According to this report, progress in water and sanitation is in need of innovative financing strategies such as those provided for under the International Finance Facility are essential to provide upfront financing to avert the impending shortfall against the Millennium Development Goal target.
This report says that considering that an increase in productivity and reduction in medical spending results in investment, if the water and sanitation target is achieved every invested dollar will yield eight dollars. Based on this assessment, the surplus national and international spending used for achieving the MDG water and sanitation targets will be 10 billion dollars per annum.
According to experts, the additional costs of achieving the MDG on the basis of the lowest-cost, sustainable technology option amount to about $10 billion a year. Closing the gap between current trends and target trends for achieving the MDG for water and sanitation would result in more than 1 million children’s lives saved over the next decade, and total economic benefits of about $38 billion annually. The benefits for Sub-Saharan Africa would be about $15 billion, which would represent 60% of its 2003 aid flows.
The Human Development Report says: “The supply of clean water, the transfer of used water and sewage systems, are three principle measures which must be taken for the progress of mankind. However, still 1.1 billion people are without access to water and 2.6 billion people do not have access to sanitation. This report points to a few interesting points like the fact that the poorer the people the more they pay for clean water. On average, the poorest households in El Salvador, Jamaica and Nicaragua spend more than 10% of their household income on water. In the United Kingdom a 3% threshold is seen as an indicator of economic hardship.”
Based on this, there are many inequalities in the price world people pay for water. The people living in city slumps usually pay 5 -10 times more than the people living in the high-income areas of the city. People living in the poorest areas of Manila pay more for water than the people in London, New York and Paris. In addition, as far as access to sanitation is concerned, two fifths of the world’s poorest families make up a large portion of the deprived in that regard. On the other hand, the growth of agricultural products and the livelihood of poor farmers depends on the water crisis and climate change and drought gets them involved in competition for rare water resources.
According to statistics, most of the 830 million people suffering from indigestion in the world are made up of farmers, shepherds and workers involved in the agricultural sector. Climate change has increased the danger of water insecurity at an unprecedented scale. Parts of Sub-Saharan Africa are faced with the danger of losing up to 25 % of their agricultural products. At the same time, competition over water for the production of foodstuffs is growing alarmingly in developing countries. These countries’ economic and political powers, who are not concerned about poverty, are behind the intensification of this competition and crisis.
Strengthening the rights of poor villagers, increasing their access to new irrigation systems and technology and helping them to coordinate themselves with the unavoidable climate changes, is vital for neutralizing this catastrophe.
Despite such hardships, the need for international help to guarantee water security for the poor can be felt more than before. This is because in 2025, more than 3 billion people in the world may be faced with water problems.
In face of all the mentioned concerns, current international cooperation in regards to water resources is much more successful than it appears to be. For example, despite their continuous tension over geographical and political issues, Pakistan and India controlled their common water resources through the Water Commission for 50 years.
Watkins believes that joint control of water resources can be a factor behind peace or conflict and politics will decide which route to take. As history shows, in truth, political choices about water and sanitation can be the key to resolving this crisis.
In some parts, the report optimistically says: More than 100 years ago, the infant mortality rate in Washington was double the current rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the end of the 19th century, in America water related illnesses such as Diarrhoea, bloody flux, and typhoid fever were behind one death in every 10 deaths. The main victims were children.
In addition, in Britain and other places people were made richer and not healthier by the industrial revolution. The poor in rural areas moved to the city in order to enjoy the benefits of the industrial revolution. The residents of highly populated cities such as New Orleans and New York, which had lethal outdoor sewage systems, were mostly the victim of illnesses such as typhoid fever and cholera.
In a hot 1858 summer, the British parliament was forced to stop work due to a phenomenon which became known as “the great stink”. The reason behind this great stink was the dumping of sewage in the River Thames. This sewage was a hassle for the rich and a killer for those poor people who provided their drinking water for this river.
This trend continued until the end of the 19th century when governments realized that illnesses related to water and sanitation cannot be controlled in the poor areas.
In Britain and the US, and …. massive investment has been made in sewage networks and water treatment. This resulted in the sharpest drop in the mortality rate in American history.
This example shows how a major social problem was resolved successfully. Such a thing can happen again. Tackling the water and sanitation crisis can be mankind next large leap. It seems that there is a dire need for the repetition of history in developing countries.



Editorial
Man has made many endeavours to reveal the wonders of water from ancient times. At first they attributed supervision over water to mythical and legendary angels which carried out their chores in the form of songs. Many of the institutionalized terms such as the source of life, purifying treasure, and life-giving substance have been used to describe water.
Despite all its simplicity, water is the earth’s most valuable natural resource and without it life would not exist. Despite this, during recent decades, we have witnessed that mankind has either wasted water or over-consumed this resource uncontrollably. The consequences of this unwise behaviour will gradually take its toll on man.
Currently, there are many signs of water shortages: The water level of underground reservoirs is dropping, lakes are shrinking, and the wetlands are disappearing. Due to the unscientific and unregulated exploitation of underground resources, various plains have subsided. And the subsidence of the soil means that its particles have become tightly knit and are less penetrable. The result is that water will not be able to penetrate the earth and the underground water resources will not be renewed. On the other hand, floods and the washing away of rich agricultural soil result in the region’s poverty and drought.
In many developing countries, unclean water is classed as a serious threat against mankind’s security. A global programme is needed to deal with the world water and sanitation crisis before the achievement of the targets of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in 2015.
The UN’s 2006 Human Development Report entitled, “Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis” says that it is human right to allocate at least 20 litres of clean water to every citizen per day. This report has stressed that in order to resolve the increasing water and sanitation crisis, which results in the death of some 2 million children worldwide every year, it is vital to outline plans for world action under the leadership of the Group of Eight (G-8) (the G-7 plus Russia).
Some 1.8 million children die from diarrhoea every year. A glass of clean water and sanitation can prevent these deaths. In addition, 443 million academic days are wasted in the world due to water-related illnesses. Some 50 % of the population of developing countries suffer from health problems caused by the shortage of clean water and sanitation.
The interesting point is that the water and sanitation crisis not only has human costs but also, it neutralizes economic growth. This is to the extent that the Sub-Saharan Africa region losses 5 % of its gross domestic product (GDP) and this is much higher than the amount of aid this region receives.
Despite this, contrary to wars and natural disasters, the global water crisis does not result in coordinated international action. Similar to hunger, it is a concealed emergency situation which only victimizes the poor and is tolerated by those who possess the necessary resources, technology and political power to end this situation.
Dealing with such a crisis is being mentioned at a time that there is less than a decade left to achieve the MDG targets by 2015. One of the important objectives of this document is to reduce the number of people who are deprived of clean water by 50 %.
In addition, the MDG aims to reduce mortality rate of children under the age of five, guarantee the preservation of the environment, and enhance sanitation levels of at least 100 million of the world’s slum dwellers. This all depends on access to clean water and the existence of healthy sanitation networks.
The head of the UN Development Programme referred to the necessity for a call up for a global plan to deal with the increasing water and sanitation crisis and said: “The eight MDG targets are in some way interrelated. As a result, if we fail to achieve the water and sanitation target, then hopes to achieve the other targets will be gradually dashed.”
He said that all world countries have a collective responsibility to fight this crisis and stressed: “Governments must invest 1 % of their GDP into water and sanitation.”
Under present circumstances, in order to achieve the MDG target on water, the world is moving based on a plan which is mainly the result of China and India’s great progress. However as far as sanitation is concerned, only Latin American and East Asian regions are moving on track.
In addition, this global image covers the real problems. This is because on current trends Sub-Saharan Africa will reach the water target in 2040 and the sanitation target in 2076. For sanitation South Asia is 4 years off track, and for water the Arab States are 27 years off track.
We hope that access to clean water for all, which is one of the MDG targets, is achieved by the year 2015.

Reporter : mehdi akbarsefat

َApproved by : Story Id 28

Create date : 23 Apr 2008 14:44

Id : 3112

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