An Inconvenient Truth about Access to Safe Drinking Water

Abstract

The phrase inconvenient truth associated with global warming and climate change has received a great deal of publicity some years back. The objective of this article is to highlight a different kind of inconvenient truth which affects about 29% of the world population. It is about the lack of access to safe drinking water that results in over 1.2 million preventable deaths annually. The first two targets of UN sustainable development goal 6 (SDG6) aim at providing universal, affordable and sustainable access to “water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)”. Recognizing the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a basic human right, issues related to this problem as well as possible options to alleviate the problem are discussed.