The Fourth World Water Forum is being held
in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. The water crisis has become one of the
issues of greatest concern to countries around the world. Let’s put the water
crisis into perspective with these different numbers.
1.1 billion: About 1.1 billion people
around the world do not have access to clean drinking water. 3.1 million people
die every year from related diseases caused by unclean drinking water. If
sanitation conditions can be improved, 1.7 million of these deaths can be
avoided every year.
41 million: Europe is also short of water.
41 million Europeans have insufficient drinking water, and 85 million Europeans
lack basic drainage, sewage treatment and sanitation facilities. There are 2.6
billion people in the world who do not have access to basic sanitation
facilities.
6 kilometers: Women or girls in developing
countries need to walk an average of 6 kilometers every day to collect water
outside their residence. In fact, this situation can be improved by taking some
simple measures. In Morocco, Africa, a "faucet" project funded by the
World Bank is to divert water from water sources closer to villages. This move
alone has increased the enrollment rate of girls in six Moroccan provinces by
20% in the past four years. Compared with large projects such as dam
construction, this kind of small project does not cost much, but the effect is
very significant.
3%: It is estimated that only 3% of
Africa's hydropower capacity has been developed, while this proportion is as
high as 75% in European countries. Most Africans do not have access to regular
electricity, which prevents them from pumping water from deep wells. Some
experts at this forum believe that building large hydroelectric dams can
indirectly improve this problem.
20 billion: A report on the status of
Africa's water resources released at this forum stated that from now to 2025,
the African continent will need 20 billion US dollars for water supply and
water infrastructure construction. The African Development Bank announced a
five-year US$550 million loan project at the forum, working with the United
Nations Human Settlements Program to install faucets and better toilets in
slums on the fringes of African cities.