"The Right to Water" by Eliza Roberts

“Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and therefore a basic human right.” ~Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General

Water may be regarded as a basic human right. Yet, today more than 1 in 6 people in the world don’t have access to safe drinking water. According to a recent World Health Organization Assessment, more than 5 million human beings die each year from illnesses linked to unsafe drinking water; one-third of these deaths are in India alone.

India currently has the second largest population in the world with 1,182,783,000 people. As the population continues to increase and as more Indians move into the middle class thus consuming more water on a day-to-day basis, water consumption is going to increase at an alarming rate.

Many arid regions of India depend heavily on groundwater for farming and basic survival. Some 85% of the population depends on groundwater for their water supply. Yet, between 1947 and 2000, access to groundwater per capita decreased from 5,150 cubic meters to 2,200 cubic meters. With increasing populations in India, it is expected that by 2017, there will be a further decline of per capita availability of groundwater to 1,600 cubic meters.

If that doesn’t sound alarming enough, try this.. Glaciers and snow in the Himalayas are a primary source of water for rivers throughout the country. Yet, with climate change this important source is melting quickly and is expected to decrease dramatically in the coming years. Climate change is also expected to alter the monsoon patterns, which may leave many farmers with arid non-farmable land.

In addition to concerns about the supply of water in India, there are a number of problems surrounding the quality and cleanliness of the water that is available. Many of the rivers have been mismanaged, overused, and polluted. The Ganges, for example, the holiest river in India is also the most polluted river in the world. Approximately 90 million liters of sewage are dumped in the river everyday.

In India, 70 to 80% of illnesses are related to water contamination or poor sanitation and cases of these illnesses are on the rise. Those afflicted face a number of challenges, including inability to work and high medical bills. These effects can be particularly debilitating and costly for those without the resources to afford medical bills and make up for lost days at work making it more of a challenge for them to escape from poverty.

Despite the daunting information and statistics that I have layed out, there are ways to address these problems and minimize their impacts in the future. Many development organizations, governments worldwide, NGOs and the Indian government are investing money into water and sanitation projects to try to deal with water issues throughout the country. Many of these projects have been successful, but there are still too many people throughout the country without access to safe water, toilets and sanitation.

There needs to be more of a focus throughout India and the world on the importance water. It is often not until resources become depleted that people begin to recognize their value. As water sources become more polluted and depleted, I can only hope that people will begin to recognize its importance and pool together greater resources to address the challenges that lay ahead.

As water challenges are addressed, it is important to recognize that solutions cannot simply come from one sector. Non-profits alone, for example, cannot address these challenges throughout the country. There needs to be a multi-pronged approach with funding and development from NGOs and governmental entities both in India and throughout the world; corporations that see the value in investing in innovative water technologies that reach both the elite, as well as the poor; Microfinance Institutions that provide loans for the purchase of health care, water filters and other technologies; government policies that work to conserve and protect water sources, as well as effective implementation of these policies at the state and local level; citizens throughout the world who conduct research and pilot projects to find innovative, cost-effective solutions to address the challenges ahead; and citizens on the ground who implement grassroots advocacy campaigns to conserve and protect their water.

Eliza Roberts Global MBA, 2011

*This is taken from Eliza's wordpress blog