ACCESS TO WATER ISN'T A PRIVILEGE...
IT'S A RIGHT

Facts

1.2 billion people don't have access to potable water (roughly one sixth of the world's population).

2.4 billion people lack proper sanitation services (about two fifths of the world's population).

Around 5760 children die each day (4 per minute, 2.1 million each year) from illnesses associated with a lack of drinking water, basic sanitation, and a bad level of hygiene – the equivalent of 30 Boeing 747s crashing each day. And roughly 1 million adults, predominantly women, die each year.

International commitments

The Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nation General Assembly in 2000, and the Additional Commitments adopted during the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, aim to reduce the number of people living without access to clean water or the minimum acceptable standards of sanitation by half by the year 2015.

Health

At the moment, it is estimated that half the hospital beds in the world are being occupied by patients who are suffering from a water related illness.

200 million people are infected with dysentery, 20 million of whom are seriously ill. Scientific studies have shown that it is possible to reduce the number of incidents by 77%, by water and sanitation intervention.

Disparities and efforts

The average distance undertaken by African and Asian women to gain access to water is 6 Km.

The weight of water that these women carry on their heads is equivalent to an individual's maximum baggage allowance on an airplane.

People living in developing countries use on average 10 liters of water each day.

In Europe, the average is 135 liters.

Flushing the toilet uses the same amount of water a person in a developing country uses for washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking each day.

Finance and money

Cost comparisons :

• Europeans spend 10 billion Euros on ice-cream each year
• Europe and the United States spend 15 billion Euros on pet food annually
• In Europe, 90 billion Euros are spent on alcohol
• According to a recent WHO survey, every Euro invested on water and sanitation services yields a return of between 3 and 34 Euros depending upon the region and the country.

Only 10 billion Euros each year are required to meet the Millennium Development Goals, and to honor the commitments made in Johannesburg: whilst a further 10 billion each year would guarantee basic access to water and acceptable sanitation to ALL.

Also, according to the WHO survey, if base level investments were made to realize the Millennium Development Goals, the return would be in the region 75 billion Euros.

For the people living in the shantytown area of Kibeira, in Nairobi, Kenya, one liter of water costs practically five times the amount it does in a European country.

It is estimated that 25% of people in developing countries buy their water from resellers, and pay five to ten times more than from a standard piped supply.

Hygiene

An increase in water quality would reduce incidents of diarrhea by 15 to 20%; better hygiene through washing one's hands and better food handling would reduce this figure by 35%; and by using better sanitary facilities the statistics can be further reduced by 40%...

Human ecology

Ecological sanitation has been put into practice in certain Indian and Chinese communities. Human waste contains valuable nutrients. Humans produce on average 4.56 Kg of Nitrogen, 0.55 Kg of phosphorous, and 1.28 Kg of potassium per person per year from our urine and excrement. This would be enough to improve wheat and maize production for an individual's annual crop.

ACCESS TO WATER ISN'T A PRIVILEGE...
IT'S A RIGHT