Year 10 Global Water Issues
2.12 Global access to improved water and sanitation
Growing up in a country where fresh, clean water flows with the turn of a tap, many Australians might assume it is a limitless resource. It is not. In fact, an article in the business magazine Fortune in May 2000 included the statement: ‘Water promises to be to the twenty-first century what oil was to the twentieth century’.
In many parts of the world, people lack access not only to clean, safe drinking water, but also to the basic sanitation systems such as toilets and sewerage systems that we take for granted. In 2008, the International Year of Sanitation, the World Health Authority estimated that 1.1 billion people did not have access to safe drinking water and between 2 billion and 6 billion lacked access to basic levels of sanitation. Approximately 2 million people in less developed nations died from water-associated diseases such as cholera, dysentery, schistosomiasis and worm infestations.
Approximately one-third of the 1.1 billion people in the world currently without access to safe water live in Africa. A sub-Saharan baby is 500 times more likely to die from diarrhoea (caused by drinking polluted water) than a baby in the developed world. Forecasts suggest that, without action, the situation will be much worse by 2025.
Why the pressure on water supplies?
Growing population
The world's rapidly growing population is the main pressure on its fresh water supplies. As the population grows, so does the demand for water to drink, to irrigate agriculture (which consumes about 70 per cent of fresh water used worldwide) and to support industry. The world's population has doubled since 1900, but in that time the demand for fresh water has increased sixfold.
Source: World Health Organization
FIGURE 1 Percentage of population in selected countries with sustainable access to improved sanitation
Source: World Health Organization
FIGURE 2 Percentage of population in selected countries with sustainable access
Growing up in a country where fresh, clean water flows with the turn of a tap, many Australians might assume it is a limitless resource. It is not. In fact, an article in the business magazine Fortune in May 2000 included the statement: ‘Water promises to be to the twenty-first century what oil was to the twentieth century’.
In many parts of the world, people lack access not only to clean, safe drinking water, but also to the basic sanitation systems such as toilets and sewerage systems that we take for granted. In 2008, the International Year of Sanitation, the World Health Authority estimated that 1.1 billion people did not have access to safe drinking water and between 2 billion and 6 billion lacked access to basic levels of sanitation. Approximately 2 million people in less developed nations died from water-associated diseases such as cholera, dysentery, schistosomiasis and worm infestations.
Approximately one-third of the 1.1 billion people in the world currently without access to safe water live in Africa. A sub-Saharan baby is 500 times more likely to die from diarrhoea (caused by drinking polluted water) than a baby in the developed world. Forecasts suggest that, without action, the situation will be much worse by 2025.
Why the pressure on water supplies?
Growing population
The world's rapidly growing population is the main pressure on its fresh water supplies. As the population grows, so does the demand for water to drink, to irrigate agriculture (which consumes about 70 per cent of fresh water used worldwide) and to support industry. The world's population has doubled since 1900, but in that time the demand for fresh water has increased sixfold.
Source: World Health Organization
FIGURE 1 Percentage of population in selected countries with sustainable access to improved sanitation
Source: World Health Organization
FIGURE 2 Percentage of population in selected countries with sustainable access