Access to Drinking Water Deteriorating

Between 2000 and 2008, the world population increased by 635 million people. Of these, 511 million (80%) live in urban areas and 124 million (20%) in rural areas.
Comparing the latest figures (2008) with 2000, the initial year of the Millennium Development Goals programme, a clear deterioration is observed. The proportion of the urban population that benefits from satisfactory access to drinking water or sanitation is decreasing.

In cities, and towns of all sizes, over those 8 years there has been an increase of:
- 114 million more people without access to tapwater at home or in the immediate vicinity
- 134 million more people without access to private sanitary toilets (basic sanitation)
In both cases, this means an increase of 20% in the number of individuals living in cities who lack these accesses. In the meantime, in urban areas, the number of people without access to "improved water sources" (i.e. more or less the sources that are protected from direct contaminations) and the number of people without any other option than open defecation has not decreased. So, in cities, despite all the efforts, on average the world is not making progress in these domains that are essential to life and to social and economic development.

A surge is necessary to reverse these trends because further deterioration might create unmanageable situations in some cities, where the creation of infrastructure will be more and more difficult. Delays in action will make progress more and more costly. Obviously, current efforts in rural areas should continue while efforts in urban and peri-urban areas should be stepped up to prevent worsening the situation further. Water operators, public and private are willing to contribute to the more ambitious urban policies that are necessary.

Source statistics: UN statistics on access to Water and Sanitation as reported by the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (www.wssinfo.org).