In January, the World Economic Forum announced that the global water crisis was the world’s
biggest risk in terms of societal impact.
Every year, nearly a million people die from waterborne diseases from unsafe water.
At the same time, large parts of the world are experiencing unprecedented drought, making
clean water a scarce resource.
So is water a human right, and should it be available to all?
Well, on the one hand, clean water is a vital resource that everybody needs.
Yet, one in nine people around the world lives without access to clean water, mostly in rural
communities.
In 2010, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “More people die from
unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war.”
That same year, the UN recognized the right to clean and safe drinking water as a basic
human right.
One of the strongest factors for this classification was the fact that access to water is necessary
to fulfill nearly all existing human rights.
The UN called on the international community to help provide “safe, clean, accessible
and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all”.
Part of the reason for such a deadly lack of water is that while it covers over 70%
of the Earth’s surface, only about 2.5% of it is drinkable fresh water, and most of
that water is frozen and inaccessible.
As a result, water is actually a pretty scarce commodity, and expensive to distribute.
Many developing countries, especially in places like Sub-Saharan Africa, have struggled to
finance the infrastructure necessary to deliver clean water.
Some have argued for the privatization of water in order to cover the costs that the
government cannot.
However, in countries like Bolivia, privatizing water has led to less access, higher water
waste, and higher prices.
In one Pakistani village, a company was accused of extracted all of their well water in order
to make expensive bottled water, leaving residents with limited access to any water at all.
So is water a human right?
Most scientists and governments agree that it is.
However, the question of who is responsible for ensuring that human right is available
to everyone is unclear.
Politics aside, the devastating drought in California is going to have a major effect
on the rest of the world.
To learn how, watch this video i just made with DNews.
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