Water Day: 2bn people lack clean drinking water, says UN

 

.As Aliyu  laments absence of water to many homes, school, business premises, others

 

Favour Ishember, Abuja

The United Nations says two billion people globally lack safe drinking water.

This is according to a UNESCO report released ahead of the UN Water Conference in New York on Wednesday.

The UN agency said the world is facing a “global water crisis’’ due to population growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns.

It also said that another 3.6 billion lacked access to safely managed sanitation.

“There is an urgent need to establish strong international mechanisms to prevent the global water crisis from spiraling out of control,’’ said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

“Water is our common future, and it is essential to act together to share it equitably and manage it sustainably.’’

The global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to potentially double from 930 million in 2016 to between 1.7 and 2.4 billion people, in 2050.

The rising incidence of extreme and prolonged droughts is also stressing ecosystems, with dire consequences for both plant and animal species, the report said.

Editor-in-chief of the report Richard Connor said building partnerships and cooperation were key to realising human rights to water and overcoming existing challenges.

“If we don’t address it, there definitely will be a global crisis,’’ he said.

The UN Water Conference, co-hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan, would take place over three days in New York.

It was the first UN event of its kind focusing entirely on water policy in nearly 50 years.

Meanwhile, FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, has lamented that millions of people and countless schools, businesses, healthcare centres, farms and industries are being held back because their human rights to water and sanitation still need to be fulfilled, just as she called for an urgent need to accelerate change— to go beyond “business as usual.”

 

In particular, the Minister expressed the commitment of the FCT Administration towards providing equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene services, while strengthening community-led approaches to total sanitation.

 

The minister who gave this commitment at the commemoration of the 2023 World Water Day, also encouraged stakeholders to join hands with the Administration to accelerate change in improving access to safe drinking water in the Territory.

 

 

Represented by the Mandate Secretary, Area Council Services Secretariat, Hon. Ibrahim Abubakar Dantsoho, the minister, reveal that the FCT Administration has constructed 188 hand pump borehole water supply schemes, 6 motorized solar-powered borehole water schemes and rehabilitated 30 rural water supply schemes, culminating in improving access to safe drinking water for about 50,000 citizens.

 

 

She, however used the occasion to reiterated that the World Water Day is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis of about 2.2 billion people living without access to safe drinking water, stressing that the 2023 World Water Day is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis.

 

 

While appreciating the partnership with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, development partners such as UNICEF, USAID, WaterAid Nigeria, DFID, Japan International Cooperation Agency, she however pledged the readiness of the Administration in supporting and encouraging collaboration and partnership in the provision of safe drinking water in rural communities.

 

 

According to her, “sustainability of both the private and public water sources is significant in the service delivery sector of the FCT.

 

 

“In this respect, I urge the good people of Abuja to embrace the clarion call for behavioural change to safely manage and conserve the available water resources for the current and future generations”.

 

“The recent data (WASH-NORM) shows that governments must work on an average of five times faster to meet the SDG 6 on time, but this is not a situation that any single actor or group can solve. Water affects everyone, so, we need everyone to “be the change” and take action,” she added.

 

Speaking in the same vein, the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola, who was represented by the Director of Administration and Finance, Mr. Abdulrasaq Leramoh, advocated for positive impacts in accessibility to safe drinking water in rural communities.

 

He called on the benefiting communities to take ownership of these facilities and ensure their smooth operation, management and sustainability.

 

In his opening remarks, the Executive Director FCT Rural Water Supply, and Sanitation Agency, Dr. Mohammed Ali Dan-Hassan, identified water as an essential component of life that is critical to the family unit, the community, local government, state and federal levels.

 

He expressed the confidence that the Agency has reached about 60 percent of coverage of rural communities, adding that in the next one or two years, the Agency would hit 90 to 95 percent coverage of water supply.

 

“We are exploiting the ground water resource, because the pipe bone network has not reached those areas yet,” he stressed.

 

Recall that the commemoration of World Water Day (March 22) began in 1993, to raise awareness and inspire action to tackle the water and sanitation crisis.

 

The highpoint of the event was the inauguration of solar-powered water scheme at Pyakasa in Abuja Municipal Area Council.