Water: sustaining the reservoir

Abstract

Water is health. Water is food. Water is industry. These key messages of UN-Water's World Water Day (March 22) 2015 underscore the importance of one of our most precious resources. The theme this year is Water and Sustainable Development, to highlight the role of water in the sustainable development agenda. Access to safe drinking water is a basic human need, and the provision of clean water and sanitation for everyone worldwide has long been an important issue. Poor quality water causes a substantial proportion of the global disease burden, including 88% of diarrhoeal disease—one of the two leading causes of infectious morbidity and mortality in children worldwide. Millennium Development Goal 7c, to “halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation” has officially been met; since 1990, 23 billion people have obtained access to improved drinking water sources and more than a quarter of the global population now has better sanitation facilities. However, 748 million people remain without access to a reliable source of clean drinking water, 1 billion still practise open defecation, and 25 billion lack improved sanitation. Water-borne diseases such as cholera therefore persist, especially in the most populous areas of low-income countries. On behalf of UN-Water, UNESCO's World Water Assessment Programme released their World Water Development Report on March 20, advising that more sustainable management is urgently needed. Increasing populations, agriculture, and food production mean that a 55% rise in global water demand is expected by 2050. However, 20% of groundwater sources are already overexploited, and a 40% water shortfall by 2030 looms unless we achieve a balance between supply and demand. Reassuringly, provision of clean water and sanitation are included with their own dedicated target in one of the post-2015 sustainable development goals. As the UN prepares to finalise these goals in September, 2015, water should be a key consideration. Water sustains life and is essential for health. Its careful management must therefore be at the very heart of any sustainable development programme. Gender disparities in water, sanitation, and global healthCelebrating World Water Day, The Lancet Editors1 highlighted the gains made towards Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7c, “to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation”, and noted UN-Water's call for sustainable water management in view of future increases in demand and shortfalls in supply. As the primary water collectors worldwide, women are disproportionately affected by the scarcity of adequate resources; however, global estimates of improvements in water access do not reflect gender-disaggregated benefits and burdens. Full-Text PDF