Families in developing nations are paying more than half their income for water
Water is supposed to fill many needs for many people, but to do that adequately, it needs to have three simple qualities: clean, clear and unconditionally available.
For those living in wealthy nations, that's largely expected. But in many developing countries, access to safe water is a rarity. And it's a human rights issue in dire need of attention -- and solutions.
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March 22 is World Water Day, an international day-long observance calling attention to the global water crisis. According to a new report from international nonprofit WaterAid, called Water: At What Cost? The State of the World's Water 2016, an estimated 650 million of the world’s poorest people still lack access to water that is safe to consume. And they’re sometimes paying more than half their salaries for any access at all.
The lack of access to water is one of the most dire global health concerns.
This lack of access is one of the most dire global health concerns, and it's because of the massive impact water has on our livelihoods. Around the world, lack of access to proper sanitation and clean drinking water is the second-largest killer of children only after pneumonia, with about 315,000 children dying each year due to unsafe water conditions.
It’s also estimated half of all child malnutrition cases stem from consumption of unsafe water.
The World Health Organization recommends that, at the very least, a single person needs access to 50 liters of clean water per day for basic hygiene and hydration. Meanwhile, optimal access is more than double that amount. Worldwide, however, low-income regions struggle to keep up with even the most basic requirements.
Those who lack access to safe water are often paying more for inadequate access than wealthy populations are paying for modernized access.
Though there are misconceptions that these populations lack access to clean drinking water because individuals cannot afford the cost associated with proper access, the new WaterAid report suggests that’s far from the truth.
In fact, those who lack access to safe water are often paying more for inadequate access than wealthy populations are paying for modernized access. That often stems from financially unstable governments that cannot properly support people living under them, with individuals having to grapple with the real cost -- both in terms of finances and health.
For any access at all, people living in impoverished communities often have to collect water they know is unsafe from wells or natural sources. Collecting this water, sometimes from isolated areas, is a task that often falls on women -- it's time-consuming, physically demanding and often dangerous.
For faster access to cleaner water, if alternatives even exist in a region, some families are forced to pay more than half their family’s daily income to water vendors.
The U.N. recommends that access to 50 liters of water per day should not cost more than 3% of a family's household income.
But in Papua New Guinea, the region with the largest population of people lacking clean water access (60%), the cost of obtaining 50 liters of clean water is $2.61. For low wage earners in the region, that cost is about 54% of what they make in a day.
In contrast, in the UK, a region that has piped water access to all residents, the cost of 50 liters of water is $0.10 -- about 0.1% of a low wage worker's daily salary.
For developing nations, warming global temperatures associated with climate change are only exacerbating the problem. Open wells can become contaminated during flooding, further damaging an already unstable supply of water. Shallow wells, often straining to serve communities, can dry out due to rising temperatures.
And black market water vendors are taking note of this shift, WaterAid research has found, raising their already high prices when access is low and demand is high.
While unconditional access to safe water is a human right, it is not yet a global reality. The following chart, created by statistics portal Statista and compiled from the State of the World's Water 2016 data, shows just how much water cost and access vary throughout the world.
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Topics Social Good
Katie Dupere was a Social Good reporter at Mashable from May 2015 to July 2017, covering activism, identities and social impact. Prior to her work with Mashable, Katie penned pieces about queerness, body positivity, sex and relationships for Gurl. She also previously contributed LGBTQ news coverage to PinkNews.
