Wold Water Day raises awareness of crucial lifeline

New Democratic Party of Canada NDP Statement on World Water Day

“The access to clean water is not a privilege but a human right for all Canadians.

“The United Nations estimates that in 2007 1.4 billion people lack access to drinking water and another 2.6 billion lack the basic sanitation. This impacts individuals, families, communities and nations from health, education, poverty, social development and gender equality.

“With more and more Canadian municipalities issuing “boiling water” advisories to protect its residents from contaminated water, why has Canada not implemented a national clean drinking water standard?

“The NDP is calling on the federal government to prioritize water safety and accessibility. A National Water Policy would be one step to address urgent water issues. Canada must act now to preserve and protect our water for future generations.”



World Water Week Marked by Shift Away From Bottled Water

Organizations call on U.N. to oppose corporate control of water

From: www.commondreams.org

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - March 21 - This year’s World Water Day will be marked by city, state and regional efforts to choose tap over bottled water. In recent weeks, the city of Seattle, the state of Connecticut and more than 60 campuses have moved to reduce, or eliminate altogether, spending on bottled water.

Now, more and more cities are joining the trend, spurred by the national campaign to Think Outside the Bottle (for a full map of city actions click www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/page1640.cfm). In the coming weeks, city officials will join with restaurants from coast to coast to announce plans to cancel bottled water contracts.

This shift by restaurants aims to expose the environmental impact of water bottling and the dangers associated with the commodification of this most essential resource. The United Nations estimates that soon two in three people will not have access to enough water.

“The question is not about whether there is enough water to meet the basic needs of every person on earth – it’s about who controls water and to what end,” says Think Outside the Bottle Campaign Director Gigi Kellett. “When Coke, Nestlé and Suez control water, instead of the communities that rely on it for their basic needs – it threatens universal access to water.”

In North America, Think Outside the Bottle asks people and communities to make a commitment to opt for tap over bottled water as a show of support for public water systems. Misleading bottled water marketing has diminished confidence in tap water – though the tap is more highly regulated. At the same time, cities face a significant funding gap between what resources they have and what they need to maintain water infrastructure.

Think Outside the bottle has worked with cities like Minneapolis and Salt Lake to build the political will to reinvest in public water systems.

“Elected officials and communities are focused on a solution here in the states that protects water as a common resource,” says Kellett. “Today, on the United Nation’s own World Water Day, it is time that the U.N. made the same commitment.”

To mark World Water Day, Corporate Accountability International, and 125 of its allies from across the globe, are calling on Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to withdraw his support from the CEO Water Mandate. In a letter to the Secretary General, organizational leaders criticize the voluntary initiative for providing green cover for corporate efforts to control water supplies worldwide.

The letter will be delivered to U.N. Headquarters in New York City today.

Corporate Accountability International, formerly Infact, is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. For over 25 years, we've forced corporations -- like Nestlé, General Electric and Philip Morris/Altria -- to stop abusive actions. For more information visit www.stopcorporateabuse.org.



World Water Day events in California

from: www.chinaview.cn

LOS ANGELES, March 22 (Xinhua) -- World Water Day was observed in parts of California on Saturday with walks, plays and other reminders that more than 1 billion people do not have clean drinking water.

In Santa Monica, Los Angeles, a 4-kilomter walk was held to represent the distance some women and children walk every day to collect water.

"At the turn of a tap, every home in Pasadena has clean, drinkable water, but millions of people on the planet still walk up to six miles to reach a water source," said Nancy Long, water conservation programs manager for Pasadena Water and Power, which is hosting the event.

"The United Nations calls this a crisis that is highly treatable and, if addressed immediately, can transform a third-world community's health and economy," she said.

Diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitary conditions kill more than 2.2 million every year, according to the World Health Organization.

"A global lack of safe water is the biggest public health crisis in the world," said Steven M. Hilton, president and chief executive officer of the Hilton Foundation, which funds programs that provide clean, sustainable sources of water to people in Africa and southern Mexico.

"Eighty percent of all illness in the developing world stems from contaminated water and poor sanitation," Hilton said.

Events will also be held later Saturday, including a show of "The Water Pirates of Neverland" in Pasadena, Los Angeles. School-aged children will also receive free activity books and goodie bags with water conservation information.


ARCHIVES 2005:

World Water Day marks launch of new Decade of Action – Water for Life

World Water Day - 22 March 2005 - marks the start of a new UN International Decade for Action on water. The Water for Life Decade 2005-2015 will give a high profile to implementing water-related programmes and the participation of women. The UN hopes that the Decade will boost the chances of achieving international water-related goals and the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

Water, gender and poverty
Within Water for Life IRC will focus on water, gender and poverty alleviation. Water and sanitation are critical factors to alleviate poverty and hunger, for sustainable development, for environmental integrity, and for human health.

Communities have complex priorities for the use of water for economic activity and for household use. Men and women often have different priorities and responsibilities. A gender focus is not simply about ‘involving women’. It is about recognising the roles of men and women, and ensuring that the voices of women, who are mainly responsible for household water but who also want economic activity, are acted on.

The first water decade – from 1981 to 1990 – brought water to over a billion people and sanitation to almost 77 million. But the job was only half done. There are still almost 1.1 billion people without adequate access to water and 2.4 billion without adequate sanitation.


This woman from the Sironko District of Uganda is a true citizen of the 21st century – a multi-tasking manager with daily performance targets. She wakes early to fetch water, store it, distribute it and manage sanitation facilities in the home. She goes to bed long after dark, when the cooking, cleaning, laundering and other chores are done. She probably has more work than her mother, being also responsible today for domestic animals. The 21st century woman participates in community development work, and uses her ‘spare’ time for income generating activities. She lives a high-pressure executive lifestyle, lacking only the income, the status, the holidays, the help in the home, a lifestyle consultant, a retirement date and a pension. Will the action decade - Water for Life - make a real difference to her life?

Picture from Allen Wekoye, Uganda.

Progress on MDGs too slow
A UN Summit in September 2005 will review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. These include reducing by half the number of people without access to clean water and to safe sanitation by the year 2015. The report will say that progress is too slow, and more needs to be done – but more of what?

While creative technological solutions are certainly needed, the biggest challenges will be to ensure that the poorest people have access to clean water and safe sanitation, to help communities find sustainable ways to manage and pay for water and to develop acceptable ways of introducing safe latrines and of encouraging good hygiene practice.

The lesson of the first water decade is that pipes, cement and infrastructure could not do the job without engaging with people and communities. This remains a challenge for the Water for Life decade.

The UN-Water website for the ‘Water for Life’ decade will open in February 2005. Background about the decade can be found at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Ask for details and materials from Division for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Two United Nations Plaza, Room DC2-2220, New York, NY 10017, USA, fax: + 1-212-963-4260. Please post details of World Water Day events at the website maintained by IRC.