CLEAN WATER FIGHT

Despite significant progress, more than 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, writes

MORE than two billion people lack access to clean and safe drinking water, according to a new report released by the World Health Organisation.

Although significant progress to ensure access to drinking water has been achieved, there is still a long way to go to ensure its quality — deemed free from pollutants and safe for drinking.

“Clean water and sanitation is central to other outcomes, for example, nutrition among children. While many countries like India have made it a top priority, many others haven’t been able to emphasise the issue yet,” said United Nations Children’s Fund water, sanitation and hygiene chief Sanjay Wijesekera.

As many as 400 million people still rely on distant water sources, travelling to and fro from their homes to pick it up. Some 159 million people, the report said, rely on untreated water from lakes and streams. This puts lives, especially of young children, at great risk.

“Every day, 800 children under the age of 5 die from waterborne diseases like diarrhoea. In fact, diarrhoea is the second biggest cause of death in the world,” Wijesekera said.

A lack of access to clean drinking water is also bad news for hygiene and sanitary levels. In many countries, open defaecation due to the lack of in-house toilets poses a significant challenge.