1 billion lack safe water:
U.N.Aid agencies mark World Water Day
Say sanitation key to disaster relief
GENEVA - In a statement marking World Water Day, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies provided a dramatic demonstration of the need for clean water.
But the precious resource is also essential for longer-term chronic shortages in the developing world, the federation and other international organizations said.
The United Nations says more than 1.1 billion people around the world lack safe water and 2.4 billion have no access to sanitation, leading to more than 3 million deaths every year.
"People who can turn on a tap and have safe and clean water to drink, to cook with and to bathe in often take it for granted and yet more than one billion of our fellow human beings have little choice but to use potentially harmful sources of water," said WHO chief Dr. Lee Jong-Wook.
"After a major catastrophe, populations are particularly vulnerable to waterborne diseases, and the ability to produce large quantities of safe water and provide adequate sanitation quickly is crucial in ensuring that these communities are not subjected to a second disaster," said Markku Niskala, secretary-general of the federation.
This year's World Water Day marks the launching of the "Water for Life" decade, during which the U.N. and governments are seeking to halve the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
