In 2009, 1.5 billion people did not have access to sufficient amounts of safe water, despite the efforts of various nations to remedy the situation. Nearly 40% of the world’s inhabitants have no access to adequate sanitation. Yet the lack of sanitation is the leading cause of diarrhoea, which kills 2 million people worldwide every year, 90% of whom are children under the age of 5.

Despite this bleak picture, water and sanitation are being given increasing priority in policymaking circles. In recent years, there has been a shift in perception of the issue, from a question of human dignity to a question of human rights.
The right to water is crucial to other fundamental rights such as the right to life and dignity, health, food and adequate housing, and healthy surroundings. Nevertheless, for many years the right to water was not explicitly mentioned in international legal texts. Under pressure from several lobby groups, NGOs, politicians and even the World Water Council, the UN decided to recognise it as a separate human right in 2002. General Comment 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) defines the right to water as follows: "The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic uses". This right extends to sanitation, which is the access to and use of toilet facilities.

Today, 39 countries recognise the right to water in their constitution or legislation, compared to a mere seven before 2002. Of these, ten recognise the right to both water and sanitation: South Africa, Honduras, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Algeria, Kenya, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Bolivia. In March 2008, the United Nation Human Rights Council adopted a resolution demanding an international study of the right to water.

It is a right which must no longer be merely recognised, but also enforced in all countries. The World Water Council is militating in favour of an international framework agreement which would provide the required legal instruments to ensure effective application of the laws. Meanwhile, it is up to national governments to formalise application of this right through legislation, regulations, policy, strategies and budget. It must be stressed, however, that its chief application is at the local level.

There are three main levers to improve the situation. First, money. Local authorities are not all in a position to singlehandedly invest in building costly infrastructure such as sanitation plants and drinking water facilities and networks. The international community may step in as a gesture of solidarity, through bodies such as the World Bank. Financing the use of such infrastructure, however, is entirely up to local populations, at an affordable and fair price. Solidarity financing such as microfinancing and microcredit is another solution, mainly in rural areas.
The second lever is governance. The role of local authorities must be to guarantee access to water, especially by maintaining distribution networks. This commitment and responsibility can only be enhanced by increased citizen involvement, especially by granting greater powers to user associations.
Finally, the third lever is linked to knowledge and know-how. In the past, several major mistakes were made when attempting to transplant technologies from the North to the South. Many infrastructures had to be shut down due to a lack of qualified manpower. The question of training is therefore crucial.

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