Factors Affecting the Essential Provision of Clean Water
According to the World Health Organization, in 2017, 5.3 billion people used safely managed drinking-water services located on premises, available when needed, and free from contamination1. However, this leaves approximately 2.2 billion people without such access, with around 1.4 billion people with basic services (an improved water source within a 30-minute round trip), and 206 million people with limited services (an improved water source requiring more than a 30-minute round trip).
Improved sources are categorized as household taps, public standpipes, boreholes, protected dug wells, protected springs, and collected rainwater2. And worse still, 435 million people take water from unprotected wells and springs, and 144 million people collect untreated surface water from lakes, ponds, rivers and streams3. Uncontaminated water is not only necessary for drinking, but also for cooking, cleaning, personal and medical hygiene, and agriculture. Clean drinking water is a basic human right, and the causes and effects of a lack of access to uncontaminated water must be investigated and rectified.
Clean water scarcity can have different causes. There can either be a “physical scarcity” of sufficient fresh water, or an “economic scarcity” where freshwater is available but is expensive to use4. Physical scarcity can vary by region based on climate, and physical scarcity is becoming increasingly common due to climate change. It is predicted that global warming will reach at least 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels5.
With this warming comes climate reactions, including changes in precipitation patterns. Such changes include glacial and snowpack melting due to increased temperatures, which depletes both the mountain stream runoff and groundwater supplies. Mountain meltwater and runoff provide more than 50% of the world’s freshwater6. Surface and groundwater supplies are also impacted by climate-change related drought. Lack of precipitation impedes groundwater recharge, meaning that those who rely on wells for clean drinking water will be impacted. Worldwide, 2.5 billion people depend solely on groundwater resources7.
The opposite of drought that is just as damaging is increased intense precipitation in some areas. Such precipitation can lead to major flooding. While the overabundance of water in a flood may seem helpful in drought-stricken areas, floods in fact can affect water safety by contaminating otherwise safe water with sewage and other pollutants. Surface and groundwater contamination can be introduced from other sources as well. Surface and groundwater resources in unmanaged or mismanaged systems are increasingly polluted with human and animal waste, agricultural runoff, chemicals such as fluorine or arsenic, and industrial effluents8.
Agricultural runoff into streams and lakes can lead to eutrophication and toxic algal blooms which not only makes the water undrinkable but also chokes out animal life that may be relied upon for food or important ecosystem services. It is predicted that Globally, the number of lakes with harmful algal blooms will increase by at least 20% until 2050. All of the above factors impede the essential provision of clean drinking water to billions of people around the world, and have the capacity to worsen. It is predicted that by 2030, the world will face a 40% global water deficit under the current climate change scenario9.
The lack of access to clean water sources has a host of negative impacts to individuals and communities. Ingestion and use of contaminated water are linked to diseases including cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio. All of these diseases can be deadly, but they are also preventable with access to clean water. Unsafe drinking water not only kills, but prevents equal opportunity and economic productivity.