Turning Water Rights Into Reality
August 31, 2010
By John Sauer - Water Advoates
Last month the UN General Assembly declared access to water and sanitation a human right.
This might seem strange if you live in the US as you are accustomed to having instantaneous access to safe drinking water and the convenient, immediate disposal of your poop. Most people in developed countries take the turn of the tap and flush of the toilet for granted because sewers were built and drinking water has been treated for the last 100 years. These advances undergirded the US public health system, as was reported in the New York Times in 1901.
However billions of people around the world still live without these necessities and 4,500 children die each day because of it. The UN press release states:
...the resolution expresses deep concern that an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies also indicate about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases.
The fact is we, in the US, see water and sanitation--toilets, taps and pipes--very differently from the rest of the world. For those in the developing world fortunate enough to have access at all, hand-pumped wells and latrines are still the norm. Imagine the US in 1890, and you'll have a better understanding of how the rest of the world lives in 2010. In 1890, just before water and sanitation infrastructure was built, the average life expectancy in the US was 46; this number mirrors the life expectancy for poorer nations today.
Once you are seeing the world though this lens you can start to understand why the UN declared water and sanitation a human right.
But the bigger issue is whether or not making water and sanitation a human right will actually help improve the living standards for people around the world. "Rights and responsibilities, not rights in a vacuum," is how Ned Breslin from Water For People put it. In his blog, Mr. Breslin, describes how a municipality in Bolivia has launched their own plan to make sure every family has access to water and sanitation. "They are not sitting on their hands and waiting for someone to give them their water rights, but taking responsibility - together - to solve their challenges," says Mr. Breslin.
What do you think?
