MOBILISATION ON ACCESS TO DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION

European Report
March 22, 2005

The EU must cease encouraging privatisation of water services in
developing countries and campaign instead for the integration of
water in the context of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This was
the message sent by 65 non-governmental organisations to Development
Commissioner Louis Michel on the occasion of World Water Day on March
22. They recall comments by Mr Michel to the European Parliament
in autumn 2004 that all resources need not necessarily be saleable,
and that public services are essential in responding to basic needs
in developing countries, with some so-called “essential services”
needing to be exempt from market pressures. The organisations
emphasise that translating these principles into reality and their
application in the water sector will represent a real test for the
enlarged EU’s development policy, in line with the Millennium Goals.
The EU is urged to alter its approach and provide substantial aid to
projects aiming to develop effective and viable public services in
these countries, rather than imposing privatisation.

A call, targeted more specifically on European countries, has been
launched by the World Health Organisation. The WHO reports that of the
roughly 877 million people in the European region, almost 140 million
(16%) do not have a household connection to a drinking-water supply,
85 million (10%) do not have improved sanitation and over 41 million
(5%) do not have access to a safe drinking-water supply. The WHO
Regional Office for Europe has therefore launched the “International
Decade for Action 2005-2015 Water for Life” initiative which aims to
cut deaths due to water-related diseases. In the European Region,
13 500 deaths a year of children under 14 years of age are due to
poor water conditions.

The largest contribution to this burden, with over 11 000 deaths, comes
from a group of countries in the EUR-B sub-region (Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan,
Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Tajikistan, the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and
Uzbekistan), where the water supply and sanitation coverage is the
most problematic. The WHO points out that it has supported European
countries through the Protocol on Water and Health, signed in 1999
by 36 countries in the region and ratified by 15. The Protocol aims
to protect human health and well-being by improving water management
and preventing, controlling and reducing water-related diseases.