Time to get serious about the right to water

Water is a limited resource and is fundamental for life and health. A lack of access to water denies the universal human rights to good health, education, nutrition and an adequate standard of living. The international community has begun to recognise the right to water, but ignorance and a lack of political will hinder its progress.

A report from the World Water Council argues the case for the Human Right to Water (HRTW). The international community must guarantee an absolute minimum of 20 litres of clean and safely accessible water per person per day. Water should be affordable and must not affect a person’s ability to buy other essential goods.

The right to water is central to human dignity, but it is unavailable to millions. At least 17 percent of the global population lack access to improved water sources and 42 percent cannot access improved sanitation. Every day, 3,900 children under the age of five die from water-related diseases.

In 2002, the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council adopted UN General Comment Number15. This declared that, “the human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water … to prevent death from dehydration, reduce the risk of water-related disease and provide for consumption, cooking, personal and domestic hygienic requirements”. This declaration has clarified the scope of the right to water, stimulated legal recognition in some countries and encouraged civil society.

The World Water Council shows that:

• The fact that the right to water is enshrined in international law, and increasingly in national law, will not automatically lead to implementation.
• The human right to water explicitly includes the right to sanitation and to hygiene education: water quality cannot be realised without adequate sanitation and knowledge.
• Reluctance to embrace HRTW is often driven by the misunderstanding that it implies that consumers should be exempt from paying for water.
• Concerns that applying human rights to water may interfere with sustainable resource management, or lead to loss of national sovereignty over water resources, are not justified.

Water has not received the attention it deserves as a public good that is essential for life. Implementing the right to water must be sustainable. It must ensure that this right can be guaranteed for present and future generations, whether provided by public or private operators.

Making the right to water a reality will require:  

• a clear definition of obligations and responsibilities for each stakeholder and identifying an authority to oversee the implementation of the right to water
• disseminating information and encouraging community participation, particularly among the most disadvantaged and those in informal settlements
• transparent monitoring processes to evaluate progress towards implementation of the right to water and sanitation
• decentralised funding mechanisms directly accessible to local actors
• institutions to cement solidarity between citizens, cities and regions with a shared determination to make access to water and sanitation services affordable for everyone
• subsidies for building local capacity, training and infrastructure.

Source(s):
‘The right to water: from concept to implementation’, World Water Council, by Céline Dubreuil, March 2006. Full document.

Funded by: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

id21 Research Highlight: 24 November 2006

Further Information:
Céline Dubreuil
World Water Council
Espace Gaymard
2/4 place d’Arvieux
13002 Marseilles
France

Tel: +33 491 99 41 00
Fax: +33 491 99 41 01
Contact the contributor: cdubreuil@worldwatercouncil.org

World Water Council

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The Right To Water. Website, resources and links.