Water - a Necessity of Life

Alistair Morrison, MA (Stockholm, Sweden), Coordinator of Global Water Governance Projects, United Nations Development Program.

Sharon interviewed Mr. Morrison, who was in Stockholm, Sweden, attending World Water Week. He is involved with the International Water Institute in Stockholm and has traveled all over the world to water problem areas such as Pakistan and Mozambique. 

He states that the key risk in floods is sanitation and water borne diseases such as cholera. The situation in Pakistan is made much worse because Al Quaida won’t let foreign aid workers in. So the biggest problem is not collecting or organizing aid but delivering it on the ground to the neediest people.

World Water Week has developed what they call “Millenium Development Goals.” The objective is to halve the number of people with unsatisfactory water, which is now over one billion out of a world population of 6.7 billion. Five million people die annually from poor sanitation.

There was some discussion of tube wells, which are inexpensive and less prone to contamination. Alistair noted that in areas without electric without power, especially Africa, they are now installing “round-about” pumps on wells, powered by a children’s playground merry-go-round. When the children play, the pump pumps.  

In many areas of the world, women and children spend 5 to 6 hours a day carrying water, time that could be used far more productively. And often, the water is not safe. It has been suggested that with a simple faucet at every door, societies could be transformed, education improved, the status of women elevated, and disease and infant mortality reduced.