Reflections on World Water Day 2008

The theme for World Water Day 2008 is "Sanitation Matters." This year's theme highlights the fact that "adequate sanitation to protect health is considered a fundamental human right." Unfortunately, for roughly half the developing world, safe and reliable water is not accessible. The result is the daily tragedy of waterborne disease, which claims thousands of lives each day.

"Safe water and sanitation are vital to human health and are critical for the stability of nations around the globe," said AWWA Executive Director Gary Zimmerman. "In North America, clean water is often taken for granted, but World Water Day creates an opportunity to think about the extraordinary value of our precious water supplies and advance water treatment and delivery systems.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are around 2.2 million per year worldwide who die from diarrheal diseases caused by poor sanitation and lack of clean drinking water. Now that's a REAL water problem.

According to a British government minister, the world faces a future of "water wars", unless action is taken to prevent international water shortages and sanitation issues escalating into conflicts.

The warning came as a coalition of 27 international charities marked World Water Day by writing to British prime minister Gordon Brown demanding action to give fresh water to 1.1 billion people with poor supplies.

"If we do not act, the reality is that water supplies may become the subject of international conflict in the years ahead," said International Development minister Gareth Thomas. "We need to invest now to prevent us having to pay that price in the future."

A lack of political will remains the greatest obstacle to efforts to drastically reduce the number of people without access to basic sanitation and clean, running water, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling on the international community to take firmer and faster steps to tackle the problem.

“If we take up the challenge, the positive impact will reverberate far beyond better access to clean water,” Mr. Ban said in a message to mark World Water Day, which is celebrated today. This year's Day also coincides with the International Year of Sanitation.

“Every dollar invested in water and sanitation yields an estimate seven dollars worth of productive activity. And that comes on top of the immeasurable gains in cutting poverty, improving health and raising living standards.”

And of course, here in America, there are communities that struggle with water infrastructure issues (for instance, the colonias in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas). The issue of water in the western US is growing every year as population grows and the climate warms. Make this day one of reflection on the life-giving gift of water, and how much it is needed by our neighbors in this country and around the world.