The sanction was immediate the action lost 5000 tonnes per year in addition to the 265A way of marrying tradition and modernityIt therefore decides to cool the buildingWhere there are uniforms there are burrsThe rally was of short duration for the rugbySpecial dishes and a menu is planned from 25Behind meat and fish suffer no criticismIssue of ease of use with the customer andEverybody knows the history of online brokersAll human beings, whatever their means, must have access to a sufficient water supply to meet their essential needs, declared solemnly in 1977 the United Nations in Mar del Plata. It was the first International Conference on water. Since then, the "high level" meetings successive: launch in 1980 of the International Decade of the water to the adoption in 2000 of the Millennium development goals, agreed to reduce by half, by 2015, the proportion of people who have no access to drinking water and sanitation, without forgetting promises soon forgotten G8 in 2003. International forums have multiplied. "Water and sanitation, the le monde world suffer from an excess of conferences and a lack of credible action", was unworthy the United Nations Programme for development (UNDP), in his recent report on human development (1).
When more than 1 billion men do not have access to drinking water and some 3 billion to sanitation, it is very difficult to measure the progress! As these purely quantitative figures mask the cruelty of reality. Whether the slum of Dharavi in Mumbai, which has a sanitary for 1,500 people, or what the inhabitants of Kibera in Nigeria call "flying toilets" (bags in plastic when its needs and that are then put in the street) or to the setbacks of the water supply in Anda Pradesh in India, region that displays an official coverage rate of 90, but half of hydrants are down! With 1.8 million deaths per year, diarrhea kills every year more children than the TB and malaria, while half of African girls drop out of primary school because they are not equipped with toilets, resulting in humiliating situations. Finally, the reality is a profound social injustice: in Jakarta, Lima, Manila, or Nairobi, slum households pay their water 5 to 10 times more expensive than rich neighbourhoods residents. It is not uncommon that the poorest spend up to 10 of their income on the purchase of water!
However, in rich countries, everyone has forgotten that the simple separation of safe and dirty waters allowed the largest gains in life expectancy ever made. Thus until the 1900s, the rate of infant mortality in London was the same as that of the Kibera slum (approximately 160 deaths per 1,000 births). This oversight is indicative of the false leads borrowed since the 1980s by the international community. Today, to make progress on the Millennium development goals, it is time to sweep the received ideas.
The first of them is the shortage of water. Of course, the resource is fragile and threatened, but everywhere in the world, domestic purposes represent only 5 of the volumes of water consumed, far behind the industrial uses and, above all, agricultural (80). Ensure dignity by giving them access to a point of drinking water to the inhabitants of the planet is therefore nothing to do with the water shortage. It is a simple matter of political will.
Second idea received at ban: pollution, scarcity, urbanisation are such that the sums to invest have become out of reach of poor countries and even the international aid. To resolve the problems of the water in the world, a panel of financial experts chaired by Michel Camdessus had estimated in 2003 the needs of investment to 180 billion per year for 10 years! What paralyze the good wishes! Fortunately, the stakes are much simpler. The priority is not to build huge water stations equipped with the latest technology, but to pit latrines, installation of fire hydrants, build robust pipelines and simple sites with good old chlorine which has been proven in Europe. Have latrines in itself is sufficient to reduce infant mortality by 30! The UN Programme for development (UNDP) spoke today of an invoice of 10 billion dollars a year to achieve the Millennium development goals. Including a significant part to train specialists for the maintenance of the water. As in sub-Saharan Africa, almost 60 of the drilling funded by international aid are today ensablés, without giving any credit to training!
The third debate which has hampered international action and that deserves to be swept is the feud between private and public sector. In the early 1990's, international donors have capitalized on the intervention of the private sector, which they hoped would be more effective than public services and that it would provide the capital needed for the financing of infrastructure. With a principle, the water must not be free and the invoice must repay the investment! The financial failure of large concessions signed by Suez, Veolia and others in Latin America (Buenos Aires, Cochabamba...) in Africa and Asia (Jakarta, Manila...) has shown how this theory was false. Without public investment, sharing and regulation, it is impossible to finance water infrastructure. In poor regions, no dealer can generate via the water bill, equipment which will be amortized over many decades, in a financial system which the horizon is the very short term. Indeed, it has never been pay water from public fountains in Europe! While the "privatization" and the "commodification" of water give rise to heated ideological debates, experience has shown that public finances that hold the key to terminate the access deficit in water. Regardless of if, then, the management of the service is public or private.
Fourth idea received, the need to quickly review, that according to which the water crisis is a priority on the international political agenda. The share of public aid to development (ODA) dedicated to the water is very low indeed: annual $ 3.4 billion, or 5 of the total. On the side of the Governments of the countries of the South, few are those, with a few exceptions like South Africa, making the water a national priority. Worse, there is a kind of taboo on sanitation. UNDP stressed and today ' today, it is almost easier to talk about AIDS with feces, while improving sanitation brings for health, education and considerable development gains.
To claim these assumptions, the international community could achieve the Millennium development goals. And for a very modest sum price! This would then tackle the environmental problems, as how to request a State of clean-up efforts, when its population was even not drinking water
