This year, 46 countries gave their voluntary national report to the United Nations on Goals 6,7,11, 12, 15 and 17.
While the U.N. was formulating the Sustainable Development Goals, they were talking in terms of insuring that people had "access to water."
Our civil society groups advocated for the U.N. to say "the right to water" instead.
I thought the symbolic walk was a great idea, though walking for water is not new to me; I have seen and experienced water shortages in the villages of India.
Though the bucket was empty, it became rather heavy as we walked, and I even thought of giving up on the way, but the cause kept us going.
Women and girls bring water just as they nurture life.
They need to be supported so that they have adequate time for other things too — like getting an education!
We wanted to remind our policy makers that the civil society representatives at the U.N. will not rest until safe drinking water becomes a reality for all.
How can human beings be fully alive without water?
[Originally from India, Celine Paramundayil is the international representative for the Medical Mission Sisters’ nongovernmental organization at the United Nations.