Everyone in the world should have access to safe, clean water. But according to statistics from the United Nations, more than one billion people lack such access. Water and its availability was a major topic at the World Summit on Sustainable Development just concluded in Johannesburg. Ania Zalewski writes in this report that delegates said the glass was more half empty than half full.
As the saying goes, "water, water, everywhere." Well, how much water is there? The total water supply of the world is estimated at 326 million cubic miles. A cubic mile of water equals more than one trillion gallons! So, experts say, there is plenty of water on our planet. But according to the U.S. Geological Survey, only three tenths of one percent of all the world's water is usable for human use. Perhaps that's why water is increasingly being called 'blue gold'.
Dr. Peter Gleick, Director of the Pacific Institute, a private environmental research center in Oakland, California says that this is a real tragedy. "There are 2.4 billion people, 40 percent of the world's population without access to adequate sanitation services," he said. "And that failure to meet basic human needs for water leads to all sorts of terrible things. Water-related diseases, loss of job time, loss of educational opportunity. It's a real development tragedy."
Even though water has emerged as a critical issue, it still remains a low priority for most governments. That's the view of Margaret Catley-Carlson, chair of the Global Water Partnership. She questions the priorities on water issues determined by international governments. "Why is water management not more of a priority," she asks. "Why is it low in national budgets? Why is it low in bilateral programs of donors? Why is it low in the borrowing requirements and the borrowing portfolios in developing countries?"
Other experts argue that there is an abundance of water in the world. The problem is global delivery systems need improvement. The Cato Institute's Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies, Patrick J. Michaels, says that water problems are closely related to poverty. "If you look at rich countries, generally they don't have a lot of difficulties with their water," he says. "Yes, there are local technologies that can clean that up, I think that we are in substantial agreement that this is an issue that is going to appear more and more in the future, and will probably be best managed by nations working with their localities rather than top down programs. I think that these top down, large intervention programs are what the United States feels probably won't work."
At the Johannesburg Summit, the United States declared it would not sign water agreements that are specific and binding on signatories. Washington did however announce a proposal to spend $970 million by the year 2005 on three major initiatives, including one that spends nearly $400 million to improve watershed management. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Science, and the Environment, John Turner stressed the American proposals at the Summit. "I am proud that the United States will join others in continuing as a world leader in providing assistance in improving access to water and sanitation, the United States can and will do more," said John Turner.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the summit on Wednesday and said that the United States wants to help in development and stewardship of the world's environment. But he added that the stewardship must be responsible and any economic management must be sound. American environmental activists at the summit, joined by those from Australia, according to press reports, repeatedly booed and jeered the secretary's comments. "The United States is taking action to meet environmental challenges, including global climate change. We are committed we are committed", he says.
13 people were ejected from the summit and the session's chair, South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma called the response, "totally unacceptable." The summit did pledge to cut in half the proportion of people with access to sanitation by 2015, and received commitments from the European Union for a "Water for Life" initiative, and more than $5 million in grants and loans by the Asia Development Bank.