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2007: Inter-American
Water Day (IAWD) 15° Anniversary
IAWD 2007 Motto :
"Water: ¡A scarce resource – Do not
pollute it!"2
According to recent progress reports toward compliance
with the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, Latin
American and Caribbean countries (LAC) could be able
to reduce 50% of their deficit in access to improving
sources of potable water and improving sanitation systems,
in agreement with their commitment to comply with Goal
10, Objective Seven, Millennium Declaration, with regard
to service coverage, except for some extremely poor
LAC countries, especially within the sanitation area
in rural and peripheral communities, situated in average
and large cities, where more considerable effort will
be necessary to carry out.
Furthermore, the service access
does not guarantee their safety or quality. Water quality
monitoring differs in LAC countries, and indicators
obtained globally by JMP (WHO/UNICEF) are not currently
measuring that quality.
A population of approximately
554 million inhabitants is estimated in LAC. A total
of 53 million persons from this estimate do not access
to an improving source of potable water. Two thirds
of them are rural populations. On the other hand, 127
million people cannot access to an improving sanitation
system, and over half of them are situated in rural
populations. According to several records of 2000 Evaluation
of Water and Sanitation , only 14% of urban populations
served with sanitary sewerage, treated their effluents
in accordance with the LAC Region level. Although, important
investments for wastewater treatment works are presently
being executed. Countries such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Uruguay have increased
their treatment coverage in the last years. However,
due to the population growth, this increase is not enough
and the effluents discharged without treatment to the
surface water, are still polluting potential sources
for water consumption, as well as diminishing the aquatic
ecosystems.
This lack of wastewater treatment
constitutes a health hazard, because most waterborne
diseases are related to the lack of potable water, due
to the use of polluted water and because of poor knowledge
in hygiene. The deficient handling of water resource,
including wastewater discharges, together with the limitations
in infrastructure of water treatment for health consumption,
damage the water quality supplied to the users.
The dissemination
and use throughout the Region of the new WHO Guidelines
for Wastewater and Excreta Handling, published in 2006
(http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/wastewater/gsuww/en/index.html),
as well as the application of Water Safety Plans described
in the WHO Drinking Water Guidelines:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq3rev/es/index.html,
are convenient tools to be used throughout the countries
to improve the protection of water and sanitation quality
sources.
“Due
to the present crisis regarding sanitation, the United
Nations has declared 2008 as
´International Year of Sanitation´ to promote
a major boost to reach the goals.”
Due to the global scarcity of
drinking water source, which becomes more unpredictable
because of the climatic changes affecting the planet
by means of droughts, floods and other seriously damaging
climatic phenomena, as well as its gradual destruction
and its increasing pollution, a planning and a more
convenient integrated arrangement of water resource
is a very pressing matter. This plan should formulate
effective and feasible strategies to manage risks and
to reduce vulnerabilities. All of these should constitute
a focal point of national policies, highlighting local
initiatives with community participation. Also, it is
necessary to acknowledge the multi sector characteristic
of water resources progress within the context of socio-economical
development. Besides, currently we should strive even
more to protect our water sources and reduce the pollution
to avoid its scarcity.
1The Inter-American
Water Day is a regional initiative, carried out together
with the Inter-American Association of Sanitary and
Environmental Engineering (AIDIS), the Caribbean Water
and Wastewater Association (CWWA), the Economic Commission
for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Organization
of the American States (OAS), Pan-American Health Organization/World
Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and the Regional Office
for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP/ORPALC).
2 Motto suggested by consensus
between SDE/CEPIS-BS and AIDIS/AmSa (Environments for
life). We are working in a coordinated proposal to develop
a long-term strategy for the definition of the IAWD
topics for a five-year period, in agreement with the
Water International Decade: “Water for Life 2005-2015”
and the Millennium Development Goals 2000-2015 that
will be consulted with the countries.
3 Middle Term Evaluation
of the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for Water Supply
and Sanitation (Target 10 of MDG 7) of WHO and UNICEF
– WHO/UNICEF, 2006.
4Global
Evaluation for Water Supply and Sanitation PAHO/WHO/UNICEF,
2000.
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