Protect our right to water. If you don't speak out, our access to clean, safe, affordable water is at risk.Many countries around the world already support the human right to water, which builds a framework of international law that provides for accessible, clean, drinking water for all. But thanks to holdover staff from the Bush Administration, the United States has recently and appallingly removed language that references the human right to water from the ministerial declaration of the 5th World Water Forum underway in Istanbul, Turkey.
This is a step backward for all those who have worked to establish the legal precedent in international law to affirm the human right to water. It is time to declare water a human right and a public good.
Global water statistics are heartbreaking:
* 1.4 billion people live without clean drinking water.
* Two-fifths of the world’s population lack access to proper sanitation.
* Every eight seconds a child dies from drinking dirty water. * Half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by people with an easily preventable waterborne disease.
* 80 percent of all sickness and disease worldwide is related to contaminated water, according to the World Health Organization.
* Dirty water kills more children than war, malaria, HIV/AIDS and traffic accidents combined.
Your voice is needed immediately. Write to Congress now.http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26890
