One in 10 have no access to water, says study
DUBAI, March 21, 2015
One in 10 world inhabitants do not have access to an improved water source, said a startling report on the eve of the World Water Day, which is celebrated on March 22 every year.
Nowadays, 750 million people live with a major lack of access to clean water and 2,500 million people do not have basic sanitation, stated the findings of The We Are Water Foundation.
It was set up in 2010 with two key goals in mind. The first is to promote awareness and encourage debate among the public and organisations on the need to create a new culture for water, to enable the equitable development and sustainable management of the world's water resources.
The second is to carry out a whole host of actions to counter the negative effects of the lack of adequate water resources.
The organisation launches several schemes to raise awareness in many countries, with the aim of achieving a new water culture.
“Water and sustainable development” is this year´s theme on the World Water Day, which was created by the United Nations in 1993.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his message on World Water Day said: "We depend on water for public health and equitable progress, and water is essential for food and energy security, and it supports the performance of industries."
"To eliminate the various problems related to water, we need to work in a spirit of urgent co-operation, with an open mind to new ideas and innovation, and being able to share the solutions that we all need for a sustainable future," he added.
Xavier Torras, the director of the We Are Water Foundation, said water resources play a key role in the reduction of poverty, in economic growth and also in the sustainability of the environment.
“It is our responsibility to improve such a complicated situation and through cooperation it is possible to turn the figures around,” he noted.
The foundation's fields of activity include involvement in infrastructure, education, health and research, concentrated in the world's most deprived areas, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
