LA NACION >Editorial

Water: a strategic and

rare resource
April 3rd, 2008lanacionar

Even though water is one of the most abundant resources on our planet, it’s
turning little by little into a hard-to-find asset as a result of its waste, climate
change, and pollution. Millions of people across the world don’t have access to
this valuable asset which is necessary for surviving.

The crisis caused by the water shortage, its poor governance, and the sanitation
problems are still serious obstacles to achieving the UN’s Millennium Development
Goals for 2015. As regards this matter, the UN stresses the importance of good
management and accurate distribution of the resources in both national and
international scenarios.

A pesar de los compromisos adquiridos en el contexto de los Objetivos del Milenio,

el avance que se ha conseguido en la cobertura de los servicios de abastecimiento y
saneamiento no es suficiente: actualmente una de cada seis personas no accede al
agua potable, dos de cada cinco carecen de saneamiento adecuado y todos los días
3800 niños mueren por enfermedades asociadas a la falta de agua potable y de
saneamiento.

According to FAO, 1800 million people will live in countries or regions with a total
water outrun and two out of three will suffer this resource shortage by 2025.
People who have been already affected by this situation are located in the world’s
poorest zones, and more than half of them live in China or India, based on the
UN’s estimations. Most North African and middle east countries are struck by a
serious water shortage, as well as other countries such as Mexico, Pakistan, and
South Africa.

Currently, there are 1100 million people without access to drinking water;
meanwhile, another 2600 million people live without access to basic sanitation
services. Eight out of ten diseased living in developing countries suffer illnesses
related to water, which also cause great mortality among the younger generation:
once every eight seconds a child dies due to the lack of access to drinking water.
Children who live in the developed world consume between 30 and 50 times more
water than those born in developing countries. Furthermore, on top of this
scenario it’s important to consider the impact of the climate change, which speed
ups the Africa’s desertification, a region where population keeps growing nonstop
and so does it the water consumption. This could lead to migrations looking for
water towards places with greater resources, like the EU.
Por otro lado, la falta de un saneamiento adecuado, que afecta en pleno siglo XXI a
2600 millones de personas, el 41 por ciento de la población mundial, es una grave
amenaza para la salud y una ofensa a la dignidad humana. De esta cifra, 980
millones son menores de 18 años, y 280 millones de ellos tienen menos de 5 años,
lo cual hace de la infancia uno de los sectores más amenazados, según señaló
Philip O Brien, director regional de Unicef, con ocasión del Día Mundial del Agua,
que se celebró el 20 del mes último, y que coincide en esta ocasión con la
declaración de 2008 como el Año Internacional del Saneamiento.

La necesidad y los diferentes usos del agua seguirán creciendo en forma sostenida,
por lo que el aprovechamiento sustentable de dicho recurso trasciende los aspectos
de orden técnico, dado que constituye un desafío político, social, económico,
ambiental y cultural que compromete a la sociedad en su conjunto no sólo para el
presente, sino también de cara al futuro.