It’s not gainsaying the fact that many people around the world, particularly the rural dwellers, do not have access to drinkable water or safe drinking-water. It’s interesting to note that poor access to safe drinking water is a global challenge because it affects both the people in the developed and the developing countries but it’s more evident in developing countries. Safe drinking water, as it were, is a drinkable water that is free of any notable risk to human health over a lifetime consumption. Painful enough, many people in hundreds of millions in different countries have no access to safe drinking water. Hence, many people suffer from health issues related to unsafe drinking water. Truly speaking, safe drinking water preserves your health.
The United Nations (UN) Media brief reveals that “884 million people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water.” According to an article titled “Universal access to safe drinking water is a fundamental need and human right.” updated in July 2023, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveals that “… 2.2 billion people still lacked access to safely managed water services,… 292 million with limited water, 296 million who used unimproved sources and 115 million who still collected drinking water directly from rivers, lakes, and other water sources. The data reveals pronounced disparities, with the poorest and those living in rural areas least likely to use a basic service…” Another article published on March 22, 2023, written by Seyma Bayram also reveals that millions of people living in Mexico do not have access to clean water. A report shows that “1.4 million people die annually and 74 million will have their lives shortened by diseases related to poor water, sanitation and hygiene. (WHO 2022).”
A report published by the World Health Organization (WHO), shows that: “282 million people with limited services, or an improved water source requiring more than 30 minutes to collect water.” i.e. it will take you more than 30 minutes to access the improved water source. “368 million people taking water from unprotected wells and springs, and 122 million people collecting untreated surface water from lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.”
The World Health Organization (WHO), reveals that “829, 000 people are estimated to die each year from diarrhoea as a result of unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.” The WHO further reveals that 297,000 children under aged 5 years, also, die each year from diarrhoea. The WHO noted that contaminated water, food and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diarrhoea. The WHO also noted that in 2017, over 220 million people required preventative treatment for schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis is an “acute and chronic disease caused by parasitic worms contracted through exposure to infested water.” Truly speaking, unsafe drinking water can cause a global serious health challenge.
The major challenge here is that, diseases connected with contamination of drinking water make-up a major burden on human health. It’s important to note that water can be a notable source of infection organisms. Many of the waterborne diseases may also be transmitted through person-to-person, contact, food intake amongst others, and this is the major risk in a community where safe drinking water is lacking or inaccessible. However, the United Nations (UN) point of view is that “everyone has the right to sufficient, continuous, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use.” Unfortunately, many people are denied of this right!
In addition, the major risk here is that lack of safe drinking water may lead to the risk of outbreaks of intestinal and other infectious diseases in the any given community. In other words, water can be a notable source of infectious organisms. However, at least to guarantee measure for water safety and water insecurity, water is packaged for consumption in different vessels or containers which include cans, laminated boxes/sachets and plastic bags. Bottled water and sachet water / packaged water are widely available in both the developed and the developing countries. However, buyers may have different reasons or considerations for buying them. Nevertheless, safety and potential health benefits should be important reasons or considerations for buying them.
However, the major concern here is that, some of the producers of bottled water and packaged water may not follow world best practices in the production process. This is the case, mostly, in the developing countries, where the ministries or the authorities responsible for ensuring safe drinking water and sanitation standards are weak either to set standards for water quality or to enforce their implementation. Therefore, to ensure the effective health protection in every area, e.g. waterborne disease, including reduction in global death rate due to contaminated water and life improvement. Hence, drinkable water must be accessible to people. Various governments and the agencies concerned in different countries are expected to pay special attention to a water safety framework and then implement complete and detailed standards for water quality and safety and to consistently ensure drinking water safety and thereby protect the public health, while at the same time solve the global challenge for safe drinking water.
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