Three weeks ago, the second-ever UN Water Conference took place. About time, since the last one was in 1977, and we’re in a global water crisis.
Crisis? Yes. Two billion people around the world don't have access to safe drinking water. So, the question was: what are we going to do about it?
The conference agreed to appoint a Special Envoy on Water and concluded that we must change how we value and manage water. Important steps, but we would have liked more. The talks ended with 708 voluntary commitments and pledges. None are legally binding and most have little financing or measurable targets.
What we would have liked them to do, is consider their own report on the Global Bottled Water Industry that came out just before the conference.
Because that report is clear:bottled water stands in the way of access to water for all.
Water luxury, water crisis
By choosing to buy bottled water when we don’t have to – because clean drinking water comes straight from our tap – we’re supporting the growth of the bottled water market. A market that pollutes our environment, contributes to water scarcity, and distracts us from the real solution: developing public water supply systems for the 2 billion people who need them. Because they’re living the water crisis.
And here’s the kicker: less than half of what the world pays for bottled water in a year could finance projects that would provide clean tap water to hundreds of millions of people without it.
In a way, that’s good news. It means the money is there. We just need to change how we spend it.