Water is a human right, do not deny it...

Billions of people and countless institutions including schools, healthcare centres, farms, and industries today do not have access to clean water and sanitation. And millions more are expected to go without these basic services in the coming years!

The United Nations General Assembly, through a resolution on July 28, 2010, explicitly approved access to clean water and sanitation as a human right and declared that they are fundamental to everyone’s health, dignity, and prosperity.

However, misuse, poor management, over-extraction of groundwater, and contamination of freshwater supplies have exacerbated water stress, and people are denied this fundamental to everyone’s health, dignity, and prosperity.

Even in countries with adequate water resources, water scarcity is not uncommon. When water is scarce, sewage systems can fail and the threat of contracting diseases like cholera surges. Scarce water also becomes more expensive.

According to the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2022 report, about two billion people worldwide don’t have access to safe drinking water, and roughly half of the world’s population is experiencing severe water scarcity for at least part of the year.

These numbers are expected to increase, exacerbated by climate change and population growth. A Unicef report pointed out that half of the world’s population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025.

Some 700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030. By 2040, roughly 1 in 4 children worldwide will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.

Failing to ensure such large numbers of people enjoy their human right to water can only make the world more unstable. Climate change, in combination with political turmoil in some parts of the world, is only likely to make this situation worse.

This means demand for water is rising, pollution is worsening, funding is lacking, and governance is often too weak to manage this precious resource efficiently and effectively in many countries.

Amid these situations falls World Water Day that together with Sustainable Development Goal 6 of the UN 2030 Agenda to shed light on those people who currently do not enjoy their rights to safe water and sanitation.

Goal 6, which is central to the entire Agenda, plays a vital role in ensuring human health, dignity, equality, productivity, and the survival of the ecosystem. Just as the water crisis is negatively affecting the global society so fast, our policymakers should focus on action plans that will ensure “water for all”, and that nobody is overlooked in policies and programmes.

The success we have seen in expanding water services in some countries in the recent past shows that this is possible. What we need is greater political will and resources to make this happen.

An example is the Sultanate of Oman, where, according to the 2019 Voluntary National Review, significant progress in this regard has been made, with 98.7 per cent of the population benefiting from safe drinking water services in 2016. Desalinated water accounts for over 86 per cent of the total drinking water needs and is considered one of the strategic options to meet drinking water requirements. Other sources of drinking water, such as wells, contribute by approximately 14 per cent.

Water management and increased water use efficiency are among the priorities of Oman 2040. The Sultanate also aims to expand the development of wastewater treatment plants and extend sewage network lines at a cost of up to $7 billion, averaging $381 million per year.

The country also seeks to ensure sustainable freshwater availability and supply by 2030 by balancing supply and demand and expanding the use of non-conventional water resources currently used to replenish some coastal aquifers. This year’s Water Day campaign “Be the Change” encourages people to take action in their own lives to change the way they use, consume, and manage water.

As the UN message on the occasion suggests, “Rapid, transformative change is needed and everyone can play their part. Every action – no matter how small – will make a difference”.

The writer is a freelance journalist and author who has worked in India and Gulf countries