Enough is not Enough

• Global water concerns. Almost one billion people have no access to piped, potable water. Over 1.2 billion people do not have sewage systems in their communities, leaving them no choice but to defecate in the open.
• Disease transmission routes. Defecating in public areas and waterways increases the morbidity and mortality rates for diarrhea, especially in children. In addition, without water to wash hands with, people who have no access to sophisticated latrines become carriers of a wide array of water-related diseases. As of 2010, it has been recorded that patients with water-related diseases fill half the hospital beds in the poorest countries. And sadly, it has been found that dirty water and poor sanitation kill 5,000 children a day.
• Poor health, poor economic output. Studies in Ghana and Pakistan suggest that malnutrition associated with diarrheal infections decrease the GDP of each country by around 4-5% in the long run. The World Health Organisation posits that inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene contribute to half of the incidences of malnutrition.
• Water shortage amidst population growth. As countries urbanise, migrants find themselves living in slums. People congest urban areas and local water utilities become unable to meet the demand. Pipes and other water equipment become poorly maintained that water supply fails to reach communities. These result to a shortage of clean drinking water and sanitation services. This compels people to buy expensive bottled or rationed water instead.
• When enough is not enough. Expanding water availability will not solve the water dilemma alone as excess water may just transmit the human or toxic wastes. Stagnant pools of water may also lead to the spread of other diseases like dengue and malaria. The key is in promoting hygiene and protected water storage.
• Water targets and solutions. The UN targets to slash the number of people who do not have access to safe drinking water and sanitation services into half by 2015. People from the private sector are coming up with ideas that could help meet this goal – like Water Initiative’s cheap water purifier for the poor and Peepoo’s single-use excreta-to-fertilizer bag.

Source:

“A special report on water: Enough is not enough.” The Economist, 20 May 2010, from http://www.economist.com/node/16136260.