More than 2 billion people on earth did not have access to clean and drinkable water. Worldwide, the poor and marginalized were less likely to have clean water and sanitation, according to a UNESCO report.
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The UN released its annual World Water Development Report on Tuesday, which highlighted that some 2.1 billion people do not currently have access to clean and continuously available drinking water. An even larger number, 4.3 billion, do not have access to safe sanitation facilities.
"Improved water resources management and access to safe water and sanitation for all is essential for eradicating poverty, building peaceful and prosperous societies, and ensuring that ‘no one is left behind' on the road towards sustainable development," said the 2019 UNESCO report, titled "Leaving No One Behind."
A future of increased water scarcity is foreseeable, the report warned, which will have negative effects on the global economy.
By the year 2050, 45 percent of global gross domestic product and 40 percent of global grain production will be threatened by environmental damage and lack of water resources, the report said.
Water is part of everyday life - we cook with it, we drink it or we water our plants with it. But not all of us can take water for granted - a fact the United Nations marks with the annual World Water Day.
Image: Reuters/G. Granja
Water: a finite resource
More than two-thirds of the earth's surface is covered with water. But only a fraction of it - about 3 percent - is fresh water. With the world's population growing fast, the water supply is coming under increasing pressure. Around the world, 2 billion people already have no safe access to drinking water.
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Water is becoming scarce
Another 2 billion people live in areas suffering from water scarcity. That number is set to rise in the coming years due to climate change. By 2050, 3 billion people are projected to live in areas that are too dry.
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Calling nature
The United Nations has been drawing attention to this threat for the last 25 years. Every year on March 22, the organization celebrates World Water Day. Each year, the day has a different motto. For 2018 it is "Nature for Water" - aiming to draw attention to nature's own solutions to drought, flooding, and pollution.
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Wastewater: an alternative source
Another, manmade solution is to reuse wastewater. If properly treated, it can be a very efficient source of fresh water and help protect natural sources from over-use. Still, the process is complicated and expensive and few countries can afford it.
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A wasted resource
In Israel, 90 percent of wastewater is reused, in part for agricultural irrigation. However, most countries do not yet have the capacity to take advantage of this resource. Worldwide, 80 percent of the wastewater goes back to nature untreated and ends up polluting the water bodies as a result.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/N. Bothma
A shortage of drinking water
Properly processed wastewater could also help to alleviate the scarcity of drinking water. Namibia and Singapore already reuse purified wastewater as drinking water. In many other countries, however, there are reservations. People fear they will get sick from drinking water that has not been cleaned well enough.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/N. Seelam
Dangerous bottles?
People often see bottled water as a healthier alternative to what comes out of the faucet. But recent studies have shown that pollutants get into the bottles too. Tiny bits of plastic have been found in many brands of bottled water throughout the world. One possible source is the plastic bottles themselves.
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Heavier burden on world's poor
The title of the UNESCO report referenced a key finding: the inequality of water access. People who are poor or marginalized are also more likely to have limited access to proper water and sanitation, the report noted.
The report's editor-in-chief, Rick Connor, said that in cities, rich homes with piped water than poor people living in slums, who often had to buy water from trucks, kiosks and other vendors, spending roughly 10 to 20 times more.
"The misperception is that they don't have water because they can't afford it — and that is completely wrong", Connor told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Half of the world's population with inadequate access to safe drinking water lives in Africa. More strikingly, only 24 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa has access to safe drinking water.
Ulla Burchardt, member of the Germany's SPD and part of UNESCO's Germany board, urged her country to do more, in light of the report's findings.
Although Germany is on the right track when it comes to water rights, "we are partly responsible for the great problems in other regions of the world, such as the import of cotton or beef, the production of which can be very water-intensive," Burchardt warned.
"Safe water and safe sanitation are human rights", Burchardt said. "But for billions of people, these rights not realized," she concluded.
