JUSTICE AND PEACE / Initiatives / Water

Water – A right of everyone

Water is essential to sustain the Earth and its inhabitants.
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2003 an International Year of Freshwater to call the world’s attention to the crisis surrounding a most precious resource, water.

What is the water crisis about?
Some would say that it is about scarcity and a growing population. Others would say that it is about distribution, waste, and lack of reverence for water in a materialistic and consumer society. Still others might say that it is about the privatization of water supply services and ownership – with 95% of these activities still controlled by the public sector.

Every citizen has a birthright to water as well as to health care and education. Access to such basic goods is not a matter of choice, but a Human Right.

United Nations declared water a human right. In an exceptional step, the United Nations Committee responsible for the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stated that water is a social and cultural good, not merely an economic commodity. The 145 countries that have ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are now obligated to progressively ensure access to clean water "equitably and without discrimination." (The United States has not ratified the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.)

People have no alternative to water, even when price increases threaten their accessibility to it. Therefore, the provision of these goods cannot be left to market forces. “Water by its very nature cannot be treated as a mere commodity among other commodities. Catholic social thought has always stressed that the defense and preservation of certain common goods, such as the natural and human environments, cannot be safeguarded simply by market forces, since they touch on fundamental human needs which escape market logic” (Centesimus Annus,40).

Consider these facts:

• Almost 98% of the water on planet Earth is salt water, unfit for human consumption. Less than 1% of total freshwater is available for our use; the majority of it is locked in polar snow and ice. In other words, of every hundred liters of water less than half a teaspoon is fresh water available for human use.


• Global water consumption has risen almost tenfold since 1900. World population is expected to increase by 45% in the next 30 years, while freshwater wastage us expected to increase by 10%.


• Recent estimates are that climate change will account for about 20% of the increase in global water scarcity.


• Other factors influencing scarcity are:
  • Degradation of water bodies – water tables, rivers, wetlands and bays.
  • Inequality of distribution.
  • Cross border conflicts.
  • Privatization.


• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that 100 tourists use the same amount of water in 55 days that could grow rice to feed 100 local villagers for 15 years.


• Comparison of water consumption per person per day:
  • The Gambia – 4.5 litres;
  • Mali – 8.0 litres;
  • USA – 500 litres;
  • England – 200 litres.
  The recommended basic requirement per person is 50 liters, but a person can get by with 30 liters.


• The water bottling industry profits from the sale of this common resource at the expense of the environment. Pumping can dry out springs, destroy habitats, devastate ecosystems, and drain aquifers. Plastics are now the fastest growing sector of the waste stream and presently take up more than 25% of the volume of materials sent to landfills every year. The bottled water industry is currently worth $22 billion and some experts estimate a growth potential of 30% annually.

Read the following sections from Sacred Scripture and reflect on how they relate to the issue of water in our times.

Links for Additional Information about International Debt

• Public Citizen – Water for All
• UNESCO Water Portal
• savewater.com.au – Australia's leading source on water conservation
• Water Use It Wisely
• IATP Water Observatory
• IFPRI Global Water Outlook to 2025

If you would like additional information about water, a right of everyone, or wish to organize a workshop or invite a speaker to address this topic, please contact Sister Ethel Howley at 410-377-2071 or ehowley@ssndba.org.