African governments urged to spend more on clean water

KAMPALA, Uganda – Nearly a third of people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to safe drinking water, the World Water Council said Wednesday, urging governments to contribute adequate amounts of their budgets toward projects aimed at making safe water widely available.

“There is an absolute necessity to increase water security in order to overcome the challenges brought on by climate change and human influence … We need commitment at the highest levels,” the organization’s president, Benedito Braga, said in a statement marking World Water Day.

Africa and Asia are the most affected by scarcity of safe water, with Papua New Guinea, Equatorial Guinea and Angola reporting that clean water is available to less than 50 percent of their populations, the statement said.

Globally, at least 1.8 billion people use a drinking-water source contaminated with feces, and half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas by 2025, according to the World Health Organization.

The water problem is particularly serious in sub-Saharan Africa, where 32 percent of people lack access to clean water and where some of the world’s poorest live. Water-borne diseases like cholera are common. Africa’s population is also growing quickly, putting even more pressure on available sources of safe water.

In remarks at a U.N. summit in the city of Durban to observe World Water Day, South African President Jacob Zuma said poor countries need the help of the developed world to meet their water needs.

“We should all commit to achieving the pledge of `Leaving No One Behind’ globally,” Zuma said, according to a statement from South Africa’s presidency.