Over Half The World’s Population Still Lacks Access to Safe Drinking Water

Access to clean water is a human right, but it remains a privilege we take for granted

Extreme weather disrupting water access in Kenya’s Tana River County. And women and children are the most affected by it (Source: UNDP Accelerator Labs)

In 1977, amid growing global concerns about water scarcity, the United Nations convened its first-ever water conference in Mar del Plata, Argentina. After 12 days, representatives from 118 nations and territories convened to the Mar del Plata Action Plan, an ambitious roadmap aiming to achieve universal clean water and sanitation by 1990 to avoid a global water crisis by the end of the twentieth century.

But the path to clean water for all was far from smooth. Low-income countries’ pleas for financial aid fell on deaf ears. Instead, a study was proposed on how to finance water projects, as Nature reported at the time.

Fast forward to 2015. Recognizing the dire state of global water access, the United Nations made significant strides. First, it updated its criteria for safely managed drinking water sources and and declared it a fundamental human right. This marked a paradigm shift. Previously, the UN’s benchmark for ‘improved’ water sources — backyard wells, connected pipes, and rainwater collection systems — painted a deceptive picture, suggesting 90% of the global population had adequate drinking water while the quality of…