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Clean Water for a Healthy World

World Water Day - 22 March 2010

International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

Over 880 million people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion lack access to basic sanitation. Everday, 2 million tonnes of sewage and other effluents drain into the world's waters. 

The problem is worse in developing countries where 90% of raw sewage and 70% of untreated industrial wastes are dumped into surface waters. 

Poor water quality impacts human health, human livelihoods and the ability of ecosystems to provide services. That is why the global community has set a target through the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and safe sanitation.

UK research and policy on water quality and water security for developing countries

• Researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change are investigating adaptation strategies for river basins and water infrastructure in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas and sustainable water management in Africa under the Centre's Water Security programme. Their research will also examine constraints and aids for robust adaptation decision-making in developing country river basins, given constraints such as informational uncertainty about climate change and river flows, competing priorities, and weak institutional capacity.
    
• Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) is a multi-disciplinary research programme that aims to address how to achieve sustainably managed ecosystems to alleviate poverty in developing countries.
   
• The Department for International Development (DFID)'s Water Action Plan (PDF 1.7MB) sets out a plan of investment to help 25 million more people across Africa gain access to safe water and basic sanitation and 30 million people in South Asia gain access to improved sanitation. 
   
• UKCDS is building links between UK and Bangladeshi climate change scientists interested in the land, food and water interface as part of a pilot project to identify the extent of UK research collaboration with Bangladesh.