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World Water Day 2009
World Water Day - March 22, 2009
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Clean water and sanitation facilities are the building blocks of social and economic development in every society around the world.
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Yet 890 million people – about a seventh of the world’s population – do not have access to safe drinking water.
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Some 2.5 billion people also live without access to basic sanitation.
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1.2 billion of which have no access to any form of sanitation.
- This means no toilets, no latrines, and no separation of human waste from daily life
The right to clean water and other public services are not a privilege. They are not a gift. They are a right that we have as human beings and as citizens.
The burden on women and girls is tremendous as typically they collect the water which requires walking long distances carrying 20 litres of water. Such activity leaves little time for school, studies or other productive activities. It is estimated that half the girls in Sub-Saharan Africa who drop out of school do so because of poor water and sanitation facilities.
The problem, argues the United Nations, has little to do with scarcity and more to do with poverty, inequality and the failings of government. At issue is the fundamental right to water.