Water is critical for socio-economic development, energy and food production, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself.

Water is also a matter of rights. For the entire world population, there is an increasing need for water resources so that communities have enough to meet their needs.

At the human level, water cannot be seen in isolation from sanitation. Together, they are vital for the entire population.

2.2 billion people lack access to drinking water services.

Many people depend on health facilities without basic water services.

More than half of the world's population lack safely managed sanitation services.

Agriculture accounts for 70 per cent of global water withdrawal.

297,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water

One of the most important recent milestones has been the recognition in July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly of the human right to water and sanitation. The Assembly recognized the right of every human being to have access to enough water for personal and domestic uses.

Is to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. The targets cover all aspects of both the water cycle and sanitation systems, and their achievement is designed to contribute to progress across a range of other SDGs, most notably on health, education, economics and the environment.

Contaminated water and a lack of basic sanitation are undermining efforts to end extreme poverty and disease in the world’s poorest countries.

The United Nations has long been addressing the global crisis caused by insufficient water supply to satisfy basic human needs and growing demands on the world’s water resources to meet human, commercial and agricultural needs.

Unclean water and poor sanitation are a leading cause of child mortality. Childhood diarrhoea is closely associated with insufficient water supply, inadequate sanitation, water contaminated with communicable disease agents, and poor hygiene practices.

The links between lack of water and sanitation access and the development goals are clear, and the solutions to the problem are known and cost-effective.

Those benefits are experienced specifically by poor children and in the disadvantaged communities that need them most.