Safe drinking water - an unfinished agenda
May 21, 2013
Without water there is no life. Clean drinking water and sanitation are basic human rights – essential to life and to
all other rights. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation is a silent crisis that destroys livelihoods and claims
more lives through illness than any war claims through guns.
The good news is that our combined efforts have made a difference. Between 1990 and 2010, more than 2 billion people
around the world gained access to safe drinking water, which meant that we achieved that Millennium Development Goal (MDG) five years ahead of schedule.
But we have an unfinished agenda. By 2015, more than 600 million people will still lack safe drinking water, with people
in disadvantaged communities three to four times less likely to have access. More than 1.7 billion people in Asia and
the Pacific are also without modern sanitation, which means we are totally off track on the MDG target of halving the
proportion of people living in these conditions. One hundred million people in South East Asia alone continue to
practice open defecation.
Behind these numbers are human lives denied the opportunity to realize their potential and their human dignity. It is
time to provide access to safe water and sanitation in all homes, all schools, all healthcare centers and in our public
spaces.
Water security, better water management and sound water governance is needed to ensure there will be enough supply to
meet the competing demands of industry, energy, agriculture and households. We must ensure the quality of drinking
water, and reduce the time it takes for families, especially women, to collect the water needed for daily life.
Water security is about ensuring that every person has reliable access to enough safe water, at an affordable price, to
lead a healthy, dignified and productive life.
Water security is also about sustaining, intergenerationally, the ecological systems that provide water, and protecting
people against water-related disasters, especially in the context of climate change.
This is magnified by the fact that more than 90 per cent of the impacts of climate change are water-related, and that
more than 50 per cent of our regional urban populations live in vulnerable coastal zones and flood plains.
The ESCAP study, “Building Resilience to Natural Disasters and Major Economic Crises”, called for better governance,
combined with more sustainable solutions, which are better integrated with wider development strategies.
The outcome document of the Rio+20 summit recognized the importance of integrating water into all three pillars of
sustainable development – economic, social, and environmental.
Sustainable solutions for water security must therefore address several issues simultaneously. I would like to briefly
highlight five:
First, persistent inequalities and growing competition for water resources must be addressed through better public policies,
greater investment in critical water infrastructure, and active participation by all stakeholders, especially women and
youth, in water planning and decision-making. We cannot have high income households receiving hundreds of litres of
water per day at low prices, when poor families in the same country have less access to water than is needed for even
the most basic human needs.
Second, we must distinguish between green, blue & grey water resources, and do more to manage the wastewater of increasingly urban populations. Grey water reuse, along with
simple water conservation technologies, and river rehabilitation makes water efficient practices affordable, and
contributes towards a more sustainable economy.
Third, polluters must pay. Our public and private sectors must commit to treating municipal and industrial wastewater prior
to discharge, and we must raise the cost to offenders of polluting rivers and water sources. Lack of regulation and poor
enforcement has for too long allowed irresponsible companies to shift pollution from the developed to the developing
world.
Fourth, governments at different levels have important roles to play in the formulation of integrated river basin management
plans; to identify solutions in strengthening the management of transboundary water resources, and cross-border river
basin ecosystems.
Fifth, we must recognize the important positive role that can be played by the private sector, which is responsible for up to
85% of global investment in new buildings, industry and critical infrastructure.
A few weeks ago, at the 69th Session of ESCAP Commission, the Royal Government of Thailand sponsored two water-related
resolutions which were unanimously adopted by all member States.
These resolutions focused on enhancing knowledge-sharing and regional cooperation in integrated water resources
management, emphasizing the vital role of water in sustainable development. They also addressed the challenges of
building resilience to water-related disasters through regional cooperation.
ESCAP has therefore been mandated to coordinate with the other United Nations agencies to ensure effective use of
technology and innovation in water management; to facilitate the sharing of regional and subregional best practices; to
promote the wider integration of water management into the regional sustainable development agenda; and to provide and
support a capacity development programme to build resilience in Asia and the Pacific to water-related risks and
disasters.
Moving forward, safe and affordable water and sanitation must be at the heart of our regional, sub-regional and national
efforts if we are to build a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient future for our people and our planet.
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Dr. Noeleen Heyzer is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).