On Water

World Water Day is coming up on March 22nd and we at PAHO are preparing our little discourse on the subject. This year the theme is "Water for Cities: The Urban Challenge". We will be focusing more on water as a human right, as declared by the United Nations (in a proposal initiated by Bolivia) last year. Water is often discussed as related to the Millennium Development goals: number seven promises a 50% improvement in access to water and sanitation. Yet as many experts have begun to point out, if we take the human right to water and sanitation seriously, then those coverage rates must be at 100%. And PAHO is often quick to point out that "access" and "improved sources"- an MDG term- are not great ways to assess the real conditions people face. Access to an "improved source", such as a faucet or well, which accesses water that is contaminated, polluted, and disease ridden should not qualify as progress toward an MDG. Yet it does- exactly because the MDG is concerned with levels of coverage, but not water quality levels. WHO and PAHO have long been one of the only institutions concerned with ensuring quality standards, amidst and avalanche of NGO's expanding coverage and building systems. Water quality is crucial because it protects health. Yet unbelievably, the water-health connection is still somehow not a political priority.


Water impacts health in a number of ways- from water borne diseases to sanitation to the ability to practice good hygiene. Yet these issues are more and more often eclipsed or ignored within the more pressing discourses on water scarcity, conservation, resource management, and environmental health. These issues are all important, but they are all inter connected. PAHO's health focus is particularly important because it incorporates a human rights focus. We pay particular attention to the way in which the most marginalized and vulnerable groups - the indigenous and the isolated rural communities, urban slum communities, and women - access water. Without water there can be no health, and without health there can be no well being and limited economic productivity. I won't bore you with stats, but they are quite stunning, and the impact of water borne illness on human well being and global GDP is quite high. Lack of access compromised communities in a multitude of ways.


Of course lack of access is not a logistical issue. It is a political one. The communities that do not receive services are those neglected or deliberately targeted by governments. In areas where there is simply no money for systems, you must wonder where the priorities are, where the money is going instead, and what role private interests are playing to keep it that way. Control over water resources is fast becoming a crucial issue across the globe, especially as climate change and water scarcity contribute to further instability in water resources. In the United States private companies bottle public (and often contaminated) water and sell it back to us. In Bolivia it famously led to a "water war" for public control over water. Riots over food and water security are becoming more and more common. As Naomi Klein recently wrote- environmental justice and economic justice have become intrinsically tied. One could add that all forms of social justice are now tied- which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Where once we could pursue our own causes, now we must commit to the sea-change, as it were. As Naomi writes, there is no change now that can be made and leave the status-quo untouched. The Middle East may serve as our guiding beacon here. And if for once there is the possibility for change, we better have a plan for the future, but that's another story.

We are working on water and human rights by promoting the creation of national policies and institutions which treat water as a human right. PAHO can bring together key figures and make a plan, and we are in the first steps of this process, but still it is exciting. Exciting as one piece is what is, as outlined above, a massive struggle. Last week we went to a congressional hearing on the right to water. It was quite fascinating and yet there were less than 50 people in the room, including witnesses and representatives and their staff. To me water has become one of the must urgent and central concerns, a part of the web which will dictate the most pressing issues of our time. To most it is still a passing thought, a distant concern. That will not be the case for long.