4.4bn+ people on Earth deprived of permanent access to clean water
Swiss researchers and experts from the United Nations and WHO claim that more than 4.4 billion residents of 136 low- and middle-income countries are deprived of permanent access to clean and safe water, TASS reports
It was found that only one in three households in low- and middle-income countries has constant access to clean water, and the main limiting factor here is water pollution by waste products.
A group of the UN and WHO experts, as well as Swiss environmentalists led by Timothy Julian, a researcher at the Swiss Higher Technical School, obtained this data by analysing information that was collected in 135 middle- and low-income countries.
The researchers combined the results of similar surveys conducted in 64.7 thousand households in 27 middle- and low-income countries with satellite observations, aerial surveys and ‘local’ measurements of various environmental and epidemiological parameters affecting water quality. This allowed scientists to create a global map that reflects the stability of access to clean drinking water.
It was concluded that about 4.4 billion people do not have permanent access to safe water. This is about double the previous estimates by WHO and UNICEF in 2020. About half of them, approximately 1.2 and 0.9 billion people, live in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 75 percent of the population lacks permanent access to clean water.
The main limiting factor in this case, as the researchers note, is that drinking water in middle- and low-income countries is periodically or constantly polluted by human or pet waste in 48 percent of cases.
