Access Prognosis Grim on World Water Day

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March 22, 2018

To mark World Water Day, March 22, the United Nations has released a report saying that 2.1 billion people don't have access to safe drinking water.

Another high-profile report, from WaterAid, found that in some countries, few people had access to clean water. Only 19 percent of Eritrea residents do; that country was found to have the least number of people who could get clean water. Then there is Cape Town, South Africa, battling a drought that began in 2015. Current estimates are that the large city will run out of water on July 9.

World Water Day logo

The U.N. Environment Programme is focusing on this year's theme, "Nature for Water," urging people around the world to restore wetlands, plant more trees, and reconnect rivers to floodplains.

Some experts point to a recent World Economic Forum report predicting that explorations of the world's oceans in 2050 would find more plastic than fish. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is massive and getting more massive.

Tap water, of course, comes from many sources, includes from the sea. Despite purification efforts, scientists in 2017 found microplastics in tap water in countries throughout the world. The nation with the highest amount of contamination was the United States, with 94 percent of the country's tap water found to contain microplastics.

Even bottled water is not immune to plastic contamination. A recent study found microplastics in 93 percent of samples worldwide.

Water sources in many countries have been found to contain untreated sewage and other serious contaminants.

Helping publicize World Water Day are a few high-profile people:

  • Singer Beyoncé has pledged support for a well-building program in Burundi designed to give clean water access to 120,000 people this year alone and 475,000 people overall by 2020.
  • Ultrarunner Mina Guli is running 100 marathons in 100 days to raise awareness for people's lack of access to clean water.

The first World Water Day was in 1993, the creation of the United Nations after a proposal at a U.N. environment conference in Brazil.

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Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2018
David White

Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2019
David White