Tackling water pollution and guaranteed access to drinking water
14 May 2011, ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Budapest (Hungary)
Tackling water pollution and guaranteed access to drinking water
Co rapporteurs : Bobbo HAMATOUKOUR (Cameroon) and Christa KLASS (EPP, Germany)
Vote in committee: 14.05.2011
Plenary debate: 17.05.2011
Plenary vote: 18.05.2011
Access to safe drinking water must be a priority issue for governments especially in the developing countries. It needs an adequate legal framework to guarantee this fundamental right which is a prerequisite for public health, with major economic and social implications. Therefore water pollution must be tackled by striking a balance between economic viability, social solidarity, employment and environment, say parliamentarians in the Committee on Social Affairs and Environment of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly today in Budapest.
Contaminated water causes 1.5 million deaths annually, mostly of children under 5 and one in 6 people globally do not have access to safe freshwater. “Access to safe drinking water must be guaranteed” say MPs if the 7th Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is to be achieved by 2015. MDG 7c aims at reducing by half the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
However investing in networks supplying drinking water and disposing of waste water is expensive and weighs on the limited financial capacities of many ACP countries. Nonetheless it must remain a priority for the public authorities, underscore MPs. In this context they call for more boreholes to be built in villages and shanty towns with rapidly increasing populations. Moreover innovative solutions should be used, such as chlorine tablets to combat epidemics like cholera, which are caused by increasingly frequent flooding.
Addressing pollution from waste, industry and agriculture
In developing countries, 70 percent of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water supply. MPs call on EU Member States and ACP countries to take all possible measures to prevent industry, deforestation, mining, chemical production and extensive use of pesticides in agriculture and horticulture from affecting water quality. In order to combat the pollution of surface water and table water, they advocate sanctioning polluters.
Climate change and urbanisation
Since climate change has an adverse effect on the planet’s water resources, the Committee on Social Affairs and Environment calls for a better protection of tropical forest which not only store vast quantities of carbon but also help regulating the temperature and generate rain. Another challenge is the increasing urbanisation in ACP countries which triggers large investments needed to deliver clean water and to process waste.
ACP-EU Water Facility
Parliamentarians stress the importance work of the ACP-EU Water Facility, which was set up in 2004, with the aim of providing water and basic sanitation to the poor, and to improve water management governance in ACP countries. It has been endowed with €200 million from the 10th European Development Fund (2008-2013).
Fast facts about water
Water and sanitation
1 billion people lack access to improved water supply
2.5 billion people, including almost one billion children, live without even basic sanitation
Contaminated water is the second biggest cause of infant mortality in the world
Basic needs
One person needs 20 to 50 litres of water free from harmful contaminants each and every day.
Water Pollution
70 percent of industrial wastes in developing countries are dumped untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water supply.
300-500 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge, and other wastes accumulate each year from industry
Agricultural water use
Over the period to 2050 the world’s water will have to support the agricultural systems that will feed and create livelihoods for an additional 2.7 billion people.
Approximately 70% of all available water is used for irrigation.
Water requirement equivalent of main food products
1 cattle – 4 000 m3
1 kg of fresh beef – 15 m3
1 kg of fresh poultry – 6 m3
(source:United Nations, www.unwater.org/statistics_san.html)
Further information:
Draft Agenda – ACP-EU JPA
Website of ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
