Vatican newspaper: health of millions threatened by lack of access to water resources

(June 03, 2011) Following a recent meeting of lawmakers from the European Union (EU), Africa, and the Caribbean and Pacific regions, the Vatican newspaper has drawn attention to the problem of polluted water. “Contaminated water causes 1.5 million deaths per year and forces more than 2.5 billion people to live without basic sanitary conditions,” the newspaper ‘L’Osservatore Romano’ reported. Amongst the causes which deprive a sixth of the world’s population of this fundamental resource are the scarcity of supply and pollution. The Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the European Union and Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) which met in the Hungarian capital Budapest, May 14-18, proposed global measures to improve the hygienic situation, conserve rainforests, and severely punish those who pollute water. The lawmakers highlighted the need to guarantee access to safe drinking water in the poorest regions of the world and to identify the nature and competency of a world governance of water resources. Pointing to a recent United Nations report that a child dies every two seconds due to poor sanitary conditions, the Vatican newspaper stressed the need to improve hygienic/sanitary structures in developing countries where 70% of untreated refuse end up in the waters, causing contamination.