Church World Service Promoting ''Water for All''
In recognition of World Water Day, an international humanitarian agency is launching a series of education resources as part of its emphasis on ''Water for All.''
In recognition of World Water Day, an international humanitarian agency is launching a series of education resources as part of its emphasis on "Water for All."
Through its office at the UN Church Center in New York and with coalition partners in Washington, D.C., Indiana-based Church World Service is working with the UN Millennium Development Goals, to insure that access to water is seen as a basic human right, said Rajyashri Waghray, Director of the CWS Education and Advocacy Program.
According to CWS, some 1.1 billion people, 300 million of whom are in Africa, are without clean water or have no local access to water.
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Population growth, pollution, and global environmental changes are prime causes of the growing water scarcity, notes the CWS resource, entitled "Thirsty Souls & Parched Lands: Let Justice Flow Like Water." CWS reports that water privatization, when viewed as the only solution, increasingly limits access to water.
"Governments are attracted to privatization because of the enormous costs in operating water delivery and wastewater removal. In developing nations as well as in regions of the United States, these costs are staggering,” Waghray stated.
"The urgent challenge is to develop community-based models that are responsive and effective in meeting water needs,” she continued. “This perspective creates space for local communities to develop their own solutions and maintain their traditional rights and approaches to water use."
Two examples of community-based models are supported by CWS in Peru and in Kenya. North of Lima, CWS partner Instituto Tierra y Mar advocates for water services for a fishing community.
In Kenya, CWS is partnering with Farming Systems Kenya to provide clean water for almost 10% of the population by reviving an abandoned borehole and installing two water tanks. According to the agency, time that women and children had spent fetching water–estimated in some communities as one-third of a lifetime–is now given to earning a living or attending school. In addition, waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid are minimized.
"Control over water resources has fueled conflicts throughout history," said Paul Maina of Farming Systems Kenya. "Today we see this in the Middle East as well as in Africa, where access to a shrinking Lake Victoria is threatening several countries."
CWS is urging constituents to contact elected officials in reference to legislative issues involving water rights; to conserve water in their homes and communities; and to campaign for the implementation of the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
CWS water resources are available on the agency’s Educational Resources page at http://churchworldservice.org/educ_materials.html
