The global water crisis is now a ‘ticking timebomb,’ warns WaterAid
Today's landmark report confirms that the global water crisis is pushing global food insecurity to an all-time high – a crisis that demands urgent action to save millions of lives and protect our global economies.
In response to the new Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) report, Tim Wainwright, Chief Executive at WaterAid, said:
“All of human life depends on water - it is the blue thread to our survival. Yet, as today’s report affirms, there is an urgent water crisis that needs a coordinated global effort to address it.
“Without access to clean water, crops are destroyed, infection spreads rapidly and women and girls are forced to walk for hours in its pursuit – and this is only getting worse as climate change disrupts the water cycle in ways we are only beginning to understand.
“Water must be made a priority at every level of governance, alongside an urgent scale up of investment and willpower to transform our global water system. We welcome GCEW’s call for Just Water Partnerships - tackling this crisis requires government leadership, finance and the coordination of donors, private sector and affected communities worldwide to drive the crucial action needed.
“The global water crisis is a ticking time bomb. If we do not tackle it now, the cost of in-action will be felt by us all.”
ENDS
For media queries, please contact Safeeyah Kazi, Senior Media Officer, [email protected] or call WaterAid’s press line on 020 7793 4537, or email [email protected].
Notes to editors
About WaterAid
WaterAid is an international not-for-profit determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. We work alongside communities in 22 countries to secure these three essentials that transform people’s lives. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 28 million people with clean water and nearly 29 million people with decent toilets.
For more information, visit our website wateraid.org/uk; follow us on Twitter @WaterAidUK, @WaterAid or @WaterAidPress; or find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.
- 703 million people in the world – almost one in ten – don’t have clean water close to home.
- 2.2 billion people in the world – more than one in four – don’t have safe water.
- Almost 2 billion people in the world – one in four – lack soap and/or water to wash their hands at home, if they have a place at all.
- 1.5 billion people in the world – almost one in five – don’t have a decent toilet of their own.
- 570 million people in the world – 1 in 14 – have a decent toilet but have to share it with people outside their family. This compromises the privacy, dignity and safety of women and girls.1
- Almost 400,000 children under five die every year due to diseases caused by unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. That's more than 1000 children a day, or almost one child every one and a half minutes.2
- Investing in safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene services provides up to 21 times more value than it costs.3
1: WHO/UNICEF (2023), Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: special focus on gender (accessed 11 Jul 2023)
2: WHO (2023), Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update (accessed 24 Jul 2023)
3: WaterAid (2021), Mission-critical: Invest in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green economic recovery (accessed 1 Nov 2023).
