How can everyone get safe water to drink? What should be the innovation carried out?

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I will ask all group membershere:When will thewhole world haveaccess to potable water, do you feel badlike me because billion and half billion people around the world without safe drinking water??

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2 Answers

  1. Mustafa, today, UNESCO-IHE publishes a booklet containing 50 innovative solutions in the field of water & development. The innovations were created with UNESCO's global partnership network to develop, implement and validate novel solutions that ultimately aim to improve the quality of life on our planet. You can read the online booklet here http://bit.ly/16F273j

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    1. Wonderful booklet. Very good material, thanks for the info water team, you are very efficient and fast.

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  2. Excellent question, Mustafa. One approach is to promote the legalization of water as a human right, by discussing what people themselves identify as reasonable use of water for a decent human life, so that we might determine a minimum volume/capabilities to be protected or realized. I wrote on this topic in the article "Transboundary water law and vulnerable people: legal interpretations of the ‘equitable use’ principle, Water International, DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2014.951827 (2014)". Here are some points: In July 2010 the UN General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation for the full enjoyments of life and all human rights by means of Resolution 64/ 292 (UN, 2010). At this point, the resolution was still non-binding, however in September 2010 this resolution was adopted as a human right by the Human Rights Council (United Nations Human Rights, 2010), stating that: the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation is derived from the right to an adequate standard of living and inextricably related to the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as well as the right to life and human dignity. Article 8 (c) furthermore calls attention to vulnerable and marginalized groups, and encourages non-discrimination and gender equality. As a human right, access to safe drinking water and sanitation have become legally binding, according to the UN. Yet, as described by Leb (2012), while there is a certain amount of international commitment to the human right to water, it is in fact not a legally binding agreement, and about 25% of the present state representatives did not vote on the resolution. Tremblay (2013) explains that the right to water has not attained the status of customary international law because the states are not consistently enforcing and implementing this right. Exactly how to address equitable and reasonable water use remains subject to debate. Issues of scale and quantities versus capabilities arise. Goff & Crow (2014) critique the use of a minimum amount of water per person, and explore the concept of water use for capabilities rather than set quantities per person or household, and warn that, to resolve water inequity, other disciplines must be addressed to resolve inequity on a scale beyond water alone. Merely replacing a set minimum amount of water with a term such as ‘sufficient water’ may leave room for individuals with characteristics requiring more water, but it may likewise be abused to mean as little as possible for all people affected by the policy. Moreover, in considering capabilities and different disciplines, it becomes ambiguous and culturally dependent which capabilities and disciplines should be considered as most important. Zwarteveen & Boelens (2014) posit that in discussing water and justice, the chosen discourse will determine how equitable and reasonable access can be discussed, and therefore certain unequal power balances are predetermined. The UN Watercourses Convention User’s Guide (para. 5.1.2) mentions that distributive justice (equitably dividing both burdens and benefits) can only be reached by procedural fairness (including minority groups in decision-making).