Ensuring People will Have Clean Water

Ensuring People will Have Clean Water



Aug. 2007  - The United States, China, India 
must commit themselves to take action against global warming to ensure 
that more people will have clean water, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik 
Reinfeldt told the opening session of World Water Week today in Stockholm.

      Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at World Water Week  
Controlling climate change is necessary to make the most of an 
increasingly scarce resource, the prime minister said, urging the 
completion of a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol by the end of 
2009, when Sweden holds the presidency of the European Union. 
"I see success in fighting global warming as much of the success we need 
to be able to solve today's and future problems concerning our waters," 
Reinfeldt said. "I also see success in solving the problems with our 
waters as one of the keys to tackle global warming. One simply can’t be 
done without doing the other." 
At least 2,000 water stakeholders from 140 countries are participating in 
the 17th annual World Water Week conference hosted by the Stockholm 
International Water Institute from August 12 to 18. 
This year, 150 different organizations are involved in arranging seminars, 
side-events, meetings and workshops under the theme, "Progress and 
Prospects on Water: Striving for Sustainability in a Changing World." 
Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water 
Institute, welcomed participants, saying, "Together we try to advance 
efforts related to water and sanitation, the environment, livelihoods and 
poverty reduction." 
This year, climate change is central to all discussions of water. 
"What becomes apparent," Berntell said, "is that climate change hits us 
first through water."

  
"Too much or too little water, at the wrong time, at the wrong place. And 
I don’t think that anyone can say that my country, or my city is 
prepared," he said. 
"Access to clean water is usually the first priority for the poor," said 
Berntell, "but since 1990, aid spending on water has remained stagnant 
whilst spending on health and education has doubled, according to a recent 
study by WaterAid, and the same is true for many governments own budgets 
and priorities." 
"At the same time," he said, "military spending has increased with 37 
percent globally between 1997 and 2006, according to the Stockholm 
International Peace Research Institute." 
More than one billion people still live without a safe water supply, and 
half the developing world does not have basic sanitation, Berntell 
reminded participants. He warned that the UN's Millenium Development Goals 
for water and sanitation will not be met by 2015 unless better progress is 
made. 
"At the current rate," he said, "the target of halving the proportion of 
people without basic sanitation by 2015, will be missed by 600 million 
people, with the net result that at least two billion people will still be 
without adequate sanitation." 
In a new brief released at the conference, "On the Verge a New Water 
Scarcity,” the Stockholm International Water Institute reports that 1,4 
billion people live in regions where there is a real, physical water 
scarcity, and an additional 1,1 billion people live in regions where there 
is water stress due to over-consumption of water. 
"Clearly, these figures will increase in the future, due to population 
growth, intensified agriculture and on top of that, climate change," said 
Berntell.


Today, the United Nations says 20 percent of the world’s population in 30 
countries faces water shortages.
By 2025, the UN warns, 30 percent of the world’s population in 50 
countries will be affected. 
As the population grows, by 2050, double the current amount of food will 
be needed to feed the global population, which also doubles the amount of 
water needed to produce that food. 
"We are not prepared to deal with the implications this has for our 
planet," warned Berntell. "There is a security component in this that is 
not fully understood or addressed internationally yet, and I am not 
talking about water security, I mean political security." 
Dr. Anna Tibaijuka, executive director UN-HABITAT, stressed the water 
needs of the world's cities, because "Today more people are living in 
cities than ever before. The world's population living in cities will pass 
the 50 percent mark sometime now. It may be happening even as you listen 
to me at present." 
"2007 is a year when human beings will become a predominantly urban 
species, which is being called Homo urbanus," she told delegates. "Let us 
not forget that the rich countries have as much at stake as the poor 
ones."
 
Tibaijuka said a "realistic pricing policy for water" will mobilize the 
financial resources to ensure that everyone has enough to drink. 
"We must first deal with the myth that the poor cannot afford to pay for 
water," she said. "In reality, the urban poor are rarely connected to 
municipal supplies, and pay exorbitant prices for water to private 
vendors, from four times to a hundred times more than their affluent 
neighbors, who get subsidized water piped to their homes." 
When the urban poor need help, "which they must as the cost of supplying 
water to cities continues to rise," she said, "experience shows that it is 
much more effective to provide direct subsidies to the poor than 
underpricing water." 
Tibaijuka pointed to the government of South Africa, which has introduced 
the "lifeline tariff," which guarantees access to water for all but 
charges more for the high consumers. 
She called for the "delivery of drinking water immediately to all." 
"Water is the most shared natural resource on this Earth," said Tibaijuka. 
"We must learn to share and care. Information, education, communication 
and awareness are key in this process. Let us not forget - life is water, 
do not waste a drop." 

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