Access to water and sanitation is internationally recognized human right. Yet more than two billion people lack even the most basic of services. The latest United Nations World Water Development Report, Leaving No One Behind, explores the symptoms of exclusion and investigates ways to overcome inequalities. The report will be launched in Geneva, Switzerland, on 19 March during the 40^th Session of the Human Rights Council, ahead of World Water Day (22 March).

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right” and in 2015 the human right to sanitation was explicitly recognized as a distinct right. These rights oblige States to work towards achieving universal access to water and sanitation for all, without discrimination, while prioritizing those most in need. Five years later, Sustainable Development Goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to guarantee sustainable management of, and access to, water and sanitation for all by 2030.

Yet, despite significant progress over the past 15 years, this goal is unreachable for much of the world’s population. In 2015, three in ten people (2.1 billion) did not have access to safe drinking water and 4.5 billion people, or six in ten, had no safely managed sanitation facilities. The world is still off track in achieving this important goal.

“Access to water is a vital right for the dignity of every human being,” declared UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. “Yet, billions of people are still deprived of this right. The new edition of the UN World Water Development Report shows that collective determination to move forward and efforts to include those who have been left behind in the decision making process could make this right a reality.”

“The numbers speak for themselves. As the Report shows, if the degradation of the natural environment and the unsustainable pressure on global water resources continue at current rates, 45% of global Gross Domestic Product and 40% of global grain production will be at risk by 2050. Poor and marginalized populations will be disproportionately affected, further exacerbating already rising inequalities […] The 2019 Report provides evidence of the need to adapt approaches, in both policy and practice, to address the causes of exclusion and inequality,” said Gilbert F. Houngbo, Chair of UN-Water and President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Wide disparities between the rich and the poor

These figures hide significant disparities. On a global scale, half of the people who drink water from unsafe sources live in Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 24% of the population have access to safe drinking water, and 28% have basic sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households.

Israeli entrepreneurs build AI-based greenhouse tech flux to save water, and make water more available to everyone.

Significant discrepancies in access exist even within countries, notably between the rich and the poor. In urban areas, the disadvantaged housed in makeshift accommodations without running water often pay 10 to 20 times more than their neighbours in wealthier neighbourhoods for water of similar or lesser quality purchased from water vendors or tanker trucks.

The right to water, the report’s authors explain, cannot be separated from other human rights. In fact, those who are marginalized or discriminated against because of their gender, age, socio-economic status, or because of their ethnic, religious or linguistic identity, are also more likely to have limited access to proper water and sanitation.

Almost half of people drinking water from unprotected sources live in Sub- Saharan Africa, where the burden of collecting water lies mainly on women and girls, many of whom spend more than 30 minutes on each journey to fetch water. Without safe, accessible water and sanitation, these people are likely to face multiple challenges, including poor health and living conditions, malnutrition, and lack of opportunities for education and employment.

Refugees particularly vulnerable

Refugees and internally displaced people are often face severe barriers to the access of water supply and sanitation services and their numbers are higher than ever before. In 2017, conflicts and persecution forced 68.5 million people to flee their homes. Moreover, an annual average of 25.3 million people are forced to migrate because of natural disasters, twice as many as in the early 1970s – a number expected to raise further due to climate change.

Inclusive policies are needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6. They are also needed to defuse conflicts between different water users. In a context of increasing demand (1% yearly increase since the 1980s), the Report observes a significant rise in water-related conflicts: 94 from 2000 to 2009, 263 from 2010 to 2018.

The Report demonstrates that investing in water supply and sanitation makes good economic sense. The return on investment is high in general and for the vulnerable and disadvantaged in particular, especially when broader benefits such as health and productivity are taken into account. The multiplier for the return on investment has been globally estimated at two for drinking water and 5.5 for sanitation.

Coordinated and published by UNESCO’s World Water Assessment Programme, the United Nations World Water Development Report is the result of a collaboration between the 32 United Nations entities and the 41 international partners who make up UN-Water. It is published every year on World Water Day.

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In 1993, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly designated March 22 as the first World Water Day. Water is one of the most common substances on earth, and one of the most vital, yet one we squander and prodigiously pollute. This year’s theme is “Nature for Water” and explores nature-based solutions to 21st century challenges.

Today, 2.1 billion people live without a home-based source of safe drinking water. The UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 commits the world to ensuring that everyone has access to safe water by 2030, and the clock is ticking. 

What are you doing to reduce your water consumption?  Simple dance steps include reducing the amount of meat you consume, easily achieved by trying Meatless Mondays. Substitute showers for tub soaks, put a brick in your toilet tank. Collect air conditioning condensate to water your garden. Maintain plumbing fixtures so they don’t drip or leak.

Consider the following facts:

1. The human body averages 50 to 65 percent water. Newborns have even more: babies are 78 percent water!

2. Water covers 70.9 percent of the planet’s surface.

3. Salt water accounts for 97 percent of Earth’s water.

4. Freshwater found in the Earth’s lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, swamps, wetlands, etc. accounts for only 0.3 percent of the world’s fresh water, the rest is trapped in glaciers or below ground. 

5. There is more water in the atmosphere than in all of our rivers combined.

6. If all of Earth’s atmospheric water vapor rained down at once, it would cover the globe with about an inch of water.

7. More than 25 percent of all bottled water comes from a municipal water supply, same as tap water!

 8. 748 million people in the world lack access to an improved source of drinking water.

10. 2.5 billion people do not have use of an improved sanitation facility.

11. 1.8 billion people worldwide drink water that is contaminated with feces.

12. The World Health Organization recommends 2 gallons per person daily to meet the requirements of most people under most conditions; and around 5 gallons per person daily to cover basic hygiene and food hygiene needs.

13. Going….on average, a resident of sub-Saharan Africa uses 2 to 5 gallons of water per day.

14. Going….on average, a European resident uses about 50 gallons of water per day.

15. Gone!….on average, an American resident uses about 100 gallons of water per day.

16. A bath uses up to 70 gallons of water; a five-minute shower uses 10 to 25 gallons.

17. The average faucet releases 2 gallons of water per minute, so you can save up to four gallons of water by turning off the tap while you brush your teeth.

18. A running toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water each day.

19. It takes 924 gallons of water to produce 2.2 pounds of rice, but 3,962 gallons of water to produce 2.2 pounds of beef.

20. Collectively, South African women and children walk a daily distance equivalent to 16 trips to the moon and back to fetch water

Broadcast how you cut back on water use by dropping us a comment. How are you winning the war on wasted water?

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In the lead up to World Water Day which will take place next Friday, I have gathered some interesting water-based facts on the issue. The Middle East and North Africa region is famously one of the driest regions in the world and things don’t look like they are getting better. So what is there to actually celebrate? Read on for the bad news and also some rather great news…

Firstly, the bad news. According to the latest statistics gathered by IRIN, the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) is getting drier at an alarming rate. And whilst trading and importing food brings in ‘virtual water’, it also makes the region extremely vulnerable to trade disruptions caused by dwindling supplies, higher prices or lack of money to pay for the imports. As a report on the issue of climate change and the Arab Spring points out, a winter drought in China contributed to global wheat shortages and skyrocketing bread prices in Egypt, which is the world’s largest wheat importer.

The report also points out that as the region’s population continues to climb, “the water availability per capita is projected to plummet… Rapid urban expansion across the Arab world increasingly risks overburdening existing infrastructure and outpacing local capacities to expand services.” Whats more, the reliance of Gulf countries on oil sold at high prices to buy food and also remain resilience in the face of water scarcity can’t last forever.

As a the report at IRIN states, this trade has simply hidden the gravity of the water scarcity situation and made it easier to neglect the development of more sustainable solutions (that doesn’t include desalination). So is the region headed towards a perfect storm of water scarcity?

That’s not clear yet. For one, water scarcity is not new to the region. The Middle East has been slowly drying for thousands of years and people have always come up with strategies to survive. Adaptation strategies are slowly gaining more importance with Egypt investing more into its water infrastructure – the World Bank has granting Egypt US$6.7 million to improve its management of water resources. And Jordan is taking more measures to harvest rainwater. The water-scarce country is also leading the way in terms of collecting water use data, especially in the agriculture sector which is consuming a huge portion of their water. So it’s not all bad news.

Indeed another piece of good news is that predictions of bloody conflict over water have so far failed to materialise. Despite a growing population and more pressure on water resources than some predicated, people haven’t taken to their guns to secure their share of water. This is something we can all celebrate as it not only demonstrates the region’s maturity but also its willingness to tackle the issue with care and consideration.

For more on water issues in the Middle East see:

Water Scarcity Leads More To Peace Than War (INTERVIEW)

Severe Water Scarcity Could Hit Arab Region by 2015

Food Shortages Could Force World To Go Veggie

: Photo of man watering a plant in the desert via Shutterstock.

The post Why It’s Hard To Celebrate World Water Day In the Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

Even though World Water Day is behind us, many researchers are looking to our forebears for inspiration to deal with ever present challenges. At the third Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies in Ancient Civilizations (WWTAC) held last week in Turkey, attendees from Libya to Australia and Israel revealed technologies used by their respective ancestors that were in many cases far more sustainable than our modern interventions. Case in point: a 56 km 2,800 year old earthen water well from Eastern Anatolia that still works today!

Ancient water works

Today’s Zaman explained that throughout the three day event held at the Barcelo Eresin Hotel in Istanbul, leading academics discussed an enormous variety of water technologies employed by ancient civilizations, including the Hittite Ponds of Hattusa, the Nomad Cisterns in Antalya, to the Ancient Greek method of water conservation.

Professor Unal Oziş told attendees of his “Water Works of Four Millennia in Turkey” discussion that water systems built three millennia ago, such as the Şamran Canal basically made out of clay, continue to be used today. By contrast, modern people replace their technologies every few years and we have built our programs with obsolescence in mind.

Cradle to Cradle and other design philosophies – and conferences such as WWTAC – will hopefully compel us to revisit more sustainable approaches to water management such as those practiced by the Berbers in Morocco, but another key concern for water specialists is the rate at which modern society depletes water supplies.

“To think that an earthen canal is still in use after 2,800 years is a miracle,” Oziş told the paper, adding that “our ancestors could live with very little water, whereas we are of course monsters in this regards.

Knowledge is survival

Water scarce Gulf states now rely on costly desalination plants to provide fresh water to their people, but in the United Arab Emirates ancient flag underground water channels would divert water from distant sources to villages where it was needed. It’s a tried and tested method which helps conserve water and is still used around the world today in places such as the Sahara desert and Oman.

So what keeps us from employing these techniques if they are so good?

Professor Larry Mays of Arizona State University told the paper that a fundamental barrier to learning about these ancient techniques and implement parts into the contemporary context is lack of information.

“There is a lot to learn from these ancient societies,” he said, “but unfortunately when there is a lack of access to knowledge of these legacies, we can end up missing out.”

:: Today’s Zayman

Image credit: Dead Sea Israel, Shutterstock

More on Water Management in the Middle East and North Africa:
Morocco’s Berbers had Water Management Sorted
Aflag: Ancient Channels Keep Water Flowing in the Desert
UN Sponsors Global Wet T-Shirt Contest

The post What Modern Society Can Learn From a 2,800 Year Old Earthen Water Well appeared first on Green Prophet.

Well, not quite, but I got your attention. Raise an icy glass filled with clean water: it’s World Water Day. In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly declared each March 22 to be World Day for Water, raising awareness of water issues at local and global levels. The first World Water Day made a splash in 1993.  Waves of educational events and symposia on water management and security cause participation to swell.

School kids and environmental groups keep the day vibrant.  The internet makes event-promotion a snap. Particularly powerful is the UN’s website, which offers free campaign materials to help stage your own event,  links to what others are doing, and methods to reduce your water footprint. Drink in their facts:

Why is water key to food security?
Erratic rainfall and seasonal differences in water supply cause food shortages. Drought is the most common cause of severe food shortages in developing countries, causing more deaths during the last century than any other natural disaster.

How much water is needed to produce our food?
Crop, livestock and aquaculture production require water sourced from rain and groundwater (green water) or from rivers, wetlands, lakes and aquifers (blue water). Globally, irrigation is 70% dependent on blue water withdrawals.There will be 9 billion people to feed on the planet by 2050. Meat consumption is expected to rise, in turn, demanding additional crop production for animal foodstock.

It takes 1500 liters of water to produce 1 kg of wheat, but it takes 15,000 liters to produce 1kg of beef.

How does water scarcity affect our food security?
Water scarcity affects every continent and more than 40% of earth’s population. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity. Two-thirds of the world could be living under water-tressed conditions. South Asia, East Asia and the Middle East are close to their resources limits, and populations are growing.

Is competition for water increasing?
Water demands of cities and industry are growing faster than agricultural demands. Non-food crops (e.g., biofuels) also compete for water. Utilizing food byproducts to produce biofuels (instead of growing specific bioenergy crops) would limit pressure on water resources and competition with food crops. Competition reduces access to water for the poor and other vulnerable groups.

How can we protect this precious resource?
Pollution reduces water availability. Pollution stems for inappropriate industrial and agricultural practices, and urban waste production. In agriculture, overuse of fertilizers and pesticides contaminates waterbodies. Intensive livestock production can also impact the quality of water resources. New, more integrated approaches to food production can substantially improve the situation. Drainage water, treated wastewater, brackish and desalinated water, especially in arid and semi-arid zones, can be recycled as a reliable source of water and nutrients for agriculture.

How can we reduce waste?
Roughly 30% of the food produced worldwide – about 1.3 billion tons – is wasted every year. In developing countries, losses occur between the farm and market because of poor storage and transport. In developed countries, particularly cities, food is wasted by consumers insensitive to the resources needed to produce it. Diets with excessive food intake are also a source of waste.  Consumer attitudes must change.  A 50% reduction of food waste at the global level would save 1,350 km3 of water (for comparison, the storage capacity of Egypt’s Lake Nasser is less than 85 km3).

When I was a kid, “Save Water” public service announcements perpetually ran on summer TV. Those old remedies remain valid. My parents skipped the car washing and let the lawn go brown.  My brothers and I endured the “half-filled-bathtub” rule, which is why this video gem hit home for me:

New York Save Water

Please take a swim through the Green Prophet archives to find excellent tips on choosing food with positive water impact. Maybe give meat a mini-vacation in your diet?  Explore a hundred other excellent ways to celebrate World Water Day.  Then exercise your new-found conservation savvy every day thereafter.  To paraphrase my peers in the video: Keep the world wet.  Save Warrrter.

Image of muscular man from Shutterstock

The post UN Sponsors Global Wet T-Shirt Contest! appeared first on Green Prophet.

Few places are as water stressed as the Middle East. The Gulf countries have to live with the reality that their very existence depends on desalination, the Levant is scarcely better off, and the situation promises to get worse as population expands and temperatures rise. The worst can be averted if awareness grows and municipalities step up conservation programs.

But helping the average person visualize the seriousness of our water shortages is no easy task, except for Matthew Laws and Hall Watts from the Royal College of Art. Their sponge art submissions received a runner up nod from Visualizing.org’s World Water Day challenge. More details are the jump.

The genius of “Urban water needs: Can we keep it up?” lies in its accuracy. The cheap kitchen sponges used to illustrate each country’s water footprint actually rise in proportion to their projected 2030 consumption. The higher the sponge, the higher the consumption.

Notice how central and western Africa show very little water consumption (as though nobody lives there) and how stressed the Middle East will be in comparison to water guzzling Europe and North America.

Without water, life can not thrive. This incredible piece worth noting is a harbinger of hard times. The time to act is now.

:: Core 77

More on water issues in the Middle East:
Syria Launches its First Water-Scarcity Park
How Islam Could Help Fight Water Scarcity
The Water Behind Middle Eastern Woes

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