Water research for the world

Let’s start with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Report 2012. Remember the target? Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Thanks to China and India the world has met the drinking water target in 2010, but the work is not done yet. The poorest lag behind, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (Figure 1). Over 40 per cent of all people without improved drinking water live in sub-Saharan Africa. The gap between urban and rural areas still remains wide, with the number of people in rural areas without an improved water source five times greater than in urban areas. Ruralurban disparities in access to sanitation are even more pronounced than for access to drinking water. The number of people forced to resort to open defecation remains a widespread health hazard and a global scandal. Nearly 60 per cent of those practicing open defecation live in India. In sub-Saharan Africa, 75 per cent of the households have to collect water from some distance. The time and energy devoted to this manner of water collection is considerable. For 25 sub-Saharan countries combined, it is estimated that 26 million hours are spend per day, which equals the working hours of the lifetimes of 300 people. An important note: water quality is not accounted for in United Nations report – so results may well be overestimated. But isn’t that what it’s all about? Providing improved water sources, not just any source