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"Water, not unlike religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people. Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to water. People move when there is too little of it; people move when there is too much of it. People move on it. People write and sing and dance and dream about it. People fight over it. And everybody, everywhere and every day, needs it. We need water for drinking, for cooking, for washing, for food, for industry, for energy, for transport, for rituals, for fun, for life. And it is not only we humans who need it; all life is dependent upon water for its very survival."
Water Scarcity • More than 1 billion people around the world are denied the right to clean water • 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation • Every year 1.8 million children die from diarrhea and other water related diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation, making it the second largest killer of children today
Water: Right, Resource or Privilege? • Access to clean water for life is a basic human need and a fundamental human right • There are divides between the rich and the poor when it comes to water availability, presenting the argument that water may in fact be a privilege • Water is a natural resource that is often times seen as infinite
Water Scarcity or Water Inequality • “The human right to water”, declares the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, “entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use.” • The problem is not the lack of water around the world, but rather the lack of access to water • Poor communities around the world have limited access to clean and sanitized water, while neighboring communities have the luxury of water available at the turn of a faucet
Quotes from Around the World • The water is not good in this pond. We collect it because we have no alternative. All the animals drink from the pond as well as the community. Because of the water we are also getting different diseases. - Zenebech Jemel, Chobare Meno, Ethiopia • Of course I wish I were in school. I want to learn to read and write…. But how can I? My mother needs me to get water. - Yeni Bazan, age 10, El Alto, Bolivia • The conditions here are terrible. There is sewage everywhere. It pollutes our water. Most people use buckets and plastic bags for toilets. Our children suffer all the time from diarrhea and other diseases because it is so filthy. - Mary Akinyi, Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya • They [the factories] use so much water while we barely have enough for our basic needs, let alone to water our crops. - Gopal Gujur, farmer, Rajasthan, India
Some things to think about… • Is water a right,a need or a privilege? • If it is a right, then who is to regulate it so that way everyone has equal access to clean and sanitized water? • In what ways is water scarcity based on class, race and gender?
