UNITED NATIONS (AP) 鈥 A report issued on the eve of the first major U.N. conference on water in over 45 years says 26% of the world鈥檚 population doesn鈥檛 have access to safe drinking water and 46% lacks access to basic sanitation.
The U.N. World Water Development Report 2023, released Tuesday, painted a stark picture of the huge gap that needs to be filled to meet U.N. goals to ensure all people have access to clean water and sanitation by 2030.
Richard Connor, editor-in-chief of the report, told a news conference that the estimated cost of meeting the goals is between $600 billion and $1 trillion a year.
But equally important, Connor said, is forging partnerships with investors, financiers, governments and climate change communities to ensure that money is invested in ways to sustain the environment and provide potable water to the 2 billion people who don鈥檛 have it and sanitation to the 3.6 billion in need.
According to the report, water use has been increasing globally by roughly 1% per year over the last 40 years 鈥渁nd is expected to grow at a similar rate through to 2050, driven by a combination of population growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns.鈥
Connor said that actual increase in demand is happening in developing countries and emerging economies where it is driven by industrial growth and especially the rapid increase in the population of cities. It is in these urban areas 鈥渢hat you鈥檙e having a real big increase in demand,鈥 he said.
With agriculture using 70% of all water globally, Connor said, irrigation for crops has to be more efficient 鈥 as it is in some countries that now use drip irrigation, which saves water. 鈥淭hat allows water to be available to cities,鈥 he said.
As a result of , the report said, 鈥渟easonal water scarcity will increase in regions where it is currently abundant 鈥 such as Central Africa, East Asia and parts of South America 鈥 and worsen in regions where water is already in short supply, such as the Middle East and the Sahara in Africa.鈥
On average, 鈥10% of the global population lives in countries with high or critical water stress鈥 鈥 and up to 3.5 billion people live under conditions of water stress at least one month a year, said the report issued by UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Since 2000, floods in the tropics have quadrupled while floods in the north mid-latitudes have increased 2.5-fold, the report said. Trends in droughts are more difficult to establish, it said, 鈥渁lthough an increase in intensity or frequency of droughts and 'heat extremes鈥 can be expected in most regions as a direct result of climate change.鈥
As for water pollution, Connor said, the biggest source of pollution is untreated wastewater.
鈥淕lobally, 80% of wastewater is released to the environment without any treatment,鈥 he said, 鈥渁nd in many developing countries it鈥檚 pretty much 99%.鈥
These and other issues including protecting aquatic ecosystems, improving management of water resources, increasing water reuse and promoting cooperation across borders on water use will be discussed during the three-day U.N. Water Conference co-chaired by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Tajikistan鈥檚 President Emomali Rahmon opening Wednesday.
There are 171 countries, including over 100 ministers, on the speakers list along with more than 20 organizations. The meeting will also include five 鈥渋nteractive dialogues鈥 and dozens of side events.
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This version of story corrected to 3.6 billion in need of access to basic sanitation in paragraph 4, not 3.6 million.
