Some facts and figures on water related issues and recommendations

Some Facts and Figures

* At least 1.8 million children under five years-old die every year from water related disease, which is one child every 20 seconds.

* It is estimated that close to 90 per cent of diarrhoea cases, killing some 2.2 million people every year, is caused by unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene.

* Over 50 per cent of malnutrition cases globally are associated with diarrhoea or intestinal worm infections. Diarrhoeal diseases come second after respiratory infections in terms of labour productivity lost due to illness.

* Over half the world's hospitals beds are occupied with people suffering from illnesses linked with contaminated water.

* Almost 900 million people currently lack access to safe drinking water, and an estimated 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have the highest proportion, with around 221 million and 330 million respectively living without basic sanitation.

* 90 per cent of the wastewater in developing countries discharged daily is untreated. 80% of all marine pollution is land based - most of it wastewater, damaging coral reefs and fishing grounds

* Each day each one of us uses - and discards - some 150-600 litres of water: 60-150 litres per person per day in developing countries to 500-800 litre per person per day in the industrialized world

* People in the industrialized world generate 5 times more wastewater per person than in developing countries - but treat over 90% of the wastewater compared to only a few percent in developing countries

* Improved wastewater management has resulted in significant environmental improvements in many European rivers, but dead zones in the oceans are still spreading worldwide

* Agriculture accounts for some 70-90% of all water consumed, mainly for irrigation. But large amounts also return to rivers in terms of run-off - near half of all organic matter in wastewater comes from agriculture

* Industrial wastes, pesticides from agriculture and tailings from mining also create serious health risks and threats to water resources, costing billions of dollars to monitor, much more to clean.

* Use of bottled water is increasing, but it takes 3 litres of water to produce one litre of bottled water - and in the USA alone an additional 17 million barrels of oil.

* Worldwide 200 000 million litres of water are produced every year, creating also an enormous waste problem from spent plastic bottles.

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* 20 million tons of phosphate is mined to fertilize crops, and there are concerns that natural phosphate may become scarcer over the coming decades.

* Nearly half of the agricultural phosphate applied is washed away and ends up rivers and oceans where it plays a part in triggering algae blooms that in turn damage ecosystems and fish stocks

* The area of dead zones - locations of reduced or absent oxygen levels - has now grown to cover 245,000 km2 of the marine environment including in North America; the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.

* Wastewater also generates methane, a climate gas 21 times more powerful than C02. It is also generating nitrous oxide which is 310 times more powerful than C02.

* It is estimated that wastewater-linked emissions of methane and nitrous oxide will rise by 25 per cent and 50 per cent respectively in just a decade.

* Climate change may aggravate the problem with droughts concentrating wastewater pollution in rivers and lakes and increased flooding overwhelming ageing sewage infrastructure in cities and towns.


Recommendations

# Countries should adopt a multisectoral approach, including ecosystem management, to cope with rising wastewater production

# Countries must establish national plans from water source to ocean and create national to local strategies. Over 70% of the water is consumed by agriculture for irrigation.

# Financing and investment are urgently needed and must address design, ecosystem restoration, construction, operation and maintenance of waste water infrastructure. Public management of the water supply and wastewater management have provided best results for broad public benefit, with private sector mainly beneficial in improving operation and maintenance

# Communities and nations should plan for increasing incidents of extreme weather and rising urbanization in the future.

# For effective waste water management, social, cultural, environmental and economical aspects must be carefully considered

# Education has a crucial role to play in water and wastewater management, helping to ensure water, nutrients and future opportunities for employment and development are not wasted.