Speaking at a one-day international conference at Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, the pope said better access to drinking water must be provided to people around the globe.
He said people dying from the lack of clean water "is an immense shame for humanity in the 21st century," according to ANSA.
Pope Francis added that "unfortunately, in many of the countries where the population does not have regular access to drinking water, there is no shortage of arms and ammunition, which continues to worsen the situation."
Pope Francis said that corruption and corporate interest are often put ahead of needs of people who need clean drinking water to live, according to the Vatican News.
He called on those attending the conference to express urgency in the matter.
He said that the Catholic Church is "committed to the access to clean water for all.
This commitment is manifested in many initiatives such as the creation of infrastructure, training, and advocacy …" During mass at Casa Santa Marta on Thursday, Pope Francis told the congregation that bearing the "witness" of Jesus Christ the best way to grow the church, even though it is the harder path.
"Bearing witness is breaking a habit, a way of being…
What is attractive [to people] is the witness.
Not the words, which help, yes; but witness is what is attractive, and what makes the Church grow."

“I think it’s from the nitrate,” Chavez says.
According to a 2012 report from UC Davis, in 96 percent of cases where nitrate leaches into groundwater supplies, agricultural operations are at fault.
This is almost certainly how the Chavez family’s well became contaminated.
“It’s shameful,” says Jonathan Nelson, the policy director for the Community Water Center, an organization that has been advocating for people without safe drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley for many years.
Jerry Brown declared he was “committed to working with the Legislature and stakeholders” to bring clean, safe, affordable water to all Californians, and he stated much the same thing in this year’s budget address, delivered in January.
Here, the wells that supplied 750 people ran dry during the drought.
Chavez says he has asked to be connected to the same pipe network.
The fund would be created mostly by a 95-cent-per-month addition to household water bills statewide, with 20 percent – $30 million – proposed to come from a tax imposed on agricultural fertilizers that contain nitrogen.
Tuck says drawing the needed money from the general fund, instead of taxing ratepayers, would be a more appropriate way to create and maintain the drinking water fund.
Nelson, at the Community Water Center, calls the stance taken by the Association of California Water Agencies “the shame of California.” “We have some of the wealthiest water agencies in the state worried about a fee of less than a dollar a month that would help bring clean water to communities of low-income people,” Nelson says.

Government is doubling efforts to achieve the goal.
Inhabitants of Garu district are more affected in the dry season.
Although boreholes are dotted in the district, they barely provide adequate water to serve the growing population.
The contaminated water from these sources poses health threats to the people but they have no choice.
Several researches point out that such water sources contain life-threatening parasites and high microbial content which makes the water unsafe for consumption.
Eight communities have had their boreholes completed awaiting handing over.
Mr. Akuka who inspected the on-going projects explained his intervention is a way of accounting to the people on how the MP’s common fund is being used.
The MP expressed gratitude to the traditional rulers in the area and the constituents but urged them to cooperate with him together with other NGOs for more development in the area.
Meanwhile, he has collaborated with the district health directorate to organise a health screening for the people.
The MP indicated that the local economy thrives on healthy people, hence the screening exercise will help improve on the health needs of the people in the district to boost productivity.

The Hampstead Area Water Company will run a pump test on its new Angle Pond well by pumping 230,400 gallons per day for seven days starting Feb. 25.
The new well is the water company’s third on Angle Pond.
On Dec. 19, Emery & Garrett Groundwater Investigations, the monitoring company hired by the water company, sent out 400 letters to property owners in the four towns in the impact area requesting permission to monitor their wells during the pump test.
Emery & Garrett received 57 responses.
Daniel Tinkham, senior consultant at Emery & Garrett, said the number of responses returned was "really good coverage."
Not all of the 36 property owners who granted access will have their wells monitored.
The state Department of Environmental Services would like more monitoring of wells close to Angle Pond.
Andrew Koff, hydrogeologist for the Drinking Water and Groundwater Bureau of the DES, issued a reminder letter Feb. 4 to nine residents who are within 1,000 feet of the new well.
Koff said the reminder letter is "not always, but occasionally" something the DES would do in this situation.
Resident Deanna Anthony said the addition of a new well in town makes her "uneasy."

Under pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it would move toward setting safety limits for a class of highly toxic chemicals contaminating drinking water around the country.
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler released an "action plan" for dealing with the long-lasting substances, which have been linked to health threats ranging from cancer to decreased fertility.
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Former EPA chief Scott Pruitt described PFAS contamination as a "national priority" and pledged swift action last May.
Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said the EPA plan doesn’t include a commitment to set safety limits for the chemicals in drinking water and prolongs the evaluation for at least another year.
Speaking at a news conference in Pennsylvania, Wheeler said Americans "count on EPA every time they turn on their faucet" and that the agency’s plan provides a comprehensive approach to dealing with PFAS.
Military installations are among the leading generators of the pollutants because of their extensive use of firefighting foam in training exercises.
By the end of this year, the EPA will "propose a regulatory determination" for those chemicals, known as PFOS and PFOA, the next step toward establishing limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Wheeler said.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have pressed him to establish mandatory limits for PFAS in public water systems.
Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, whose state of West Virginia was one of the first where PFAS contamination was linked to health problems, said she voted for Wheeler’s nomination in committee this month only after he privately assured her the EPA would tackle the problem.

Students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) have decried the lack of safe water for drinking in the university, arguing that it has exposed the community to health risks.
The concerned students launched a safe drinking water and good sanitation campaign on Wednesday that aims at installing water filters and purifiers in the university and the hospital.
Derina Atuhwere, a third year student and the President of the Integrity Ambassadors Club said that the campaign targets the vulnerable students who can not access safe water for drinking.
She said the water crisis was critically affecting majority of the students who cannot buy bottled drinking water every day especially during the dry season.
Those that cannot afford buying bottled water find themselves taking unboiled water directly from the water taps,” she said.
“If a student has no money, he or she cannot get water for drinking until they return home.
She however noted that the students could not wait for the university to make an intervention, and as such, they as students have decided to provide water filters and purifiers that will be provided to each faculty.
“That patient can end up contracting other diseases because some cannot afford buying bottled water every day even students some are incapable.
This project had been started before but it lacked support, so we decided to revive the project,” Amanjot revealed.
“It’s very absurd that such a big institution which has also a hospital does not have safe water points for vulnerable patients and students.

Learn more about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
Across the state people are asking, “What happened to our water?” Michiganders are demanding answers, and they’re not alone.
The supporting census data, however, is fragmentary and inconclusive.
It also doesn’t tell us why these communities still lack access to water and sanitation in the 21st Century, and what we can do about it.
To find answers to those questions, my organization, DigDeep, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, just launched an unprecedented “hotspot study” of water and sanitation issues around the country.
“Fixing the problem must involve building a better understanding of who lacks accessible, affordable and safe water and sanitation.
Meanwhile, researchers from DigDeep and the US Water Alliance will embed themselves inside six communities struggling with water and sanitation issues to better understand these challenges in their local context.
Working closely with local partners, researchers will conduct interviews, community meetings, and intensive field work to provide depth and texture to the MSU data.
The study has three primary goals: create a national understanding of the water-access problem; identify promising, scalable community-focused models for providing universal access to running water and indoor plumbing; and develop recommendations for the policies and funding necessary to extend water access to all Americans.
Uncovering the hard data on this persistent problem is the first, crucial step toward closing the water-access gap in America.

MBARARA – Students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) have decried the lack of safe water for drinking and good sanitation in the university arguing that it has exposed them to health risks and have launched a campaign to avert the crisis.
These launched a safe drinking water and good sanitation campaign on Wednesday that aims at installing water filters and purifiers in the university and the hospital plus ensuring that the environment is also clean.
“So far in the whole university we don’t have any water point where students can access safe drinking water, those that cannot afford buying bottled water find themselves taking unboiled water directly from the water taps, if a student has no money, he or she cannot get water for drinking until maybe when he returns home, we realized as Integrity club that this is a crisis that should be brought to an end,” said Atuhwere.
She, however, noted that they could not wait for the university to provide them with everything hence a move to provide water filters and purifiers that will be provided to each faculty in the university.
Annu Amanjot the minister of foreign affairs under Integrity ambassadors club who also works with United SIKHS from the United States said they realized that both the University and Mbarara regional referral hospital which operates in the same vicinity have no water purifiers which expose both patients and students to high risks of drinking unsafe water.
“It feels bad when a patient comes to the hospital for treatment and end up taking unsafe water, that patient can end up contracting other diseases because some cannot afford buying bottled water every day even students some are incapable.
This project had been started before but it lacked support, so we decided to resurrect the project.” Amanjot revealed.
“It’s very absurd to find that such big institution which has also a hospital does not have safe water points for vulnerable patients and students to access drinking water and even the environment is not clean which has a negative impact on the health of students and the image of the institution” She confirmed that these water filters will be coming in at the end of February and will be installed in each faculty to avert the crisis.
“Like these days, the weather is very hot and our bodies need a lot of water, some students you find them in the lecture rooms dozing because their bodies are dehydrated, that student will not grasp what is being taught, therefore to keep our fellow students fresh and clean, that’s the initiative we are coming up” said Kalugu.
Mike Katongole the guild president MUST say that safe water is one of the basic need which everyone should have in the current developing world.

Twelve new reservoirs have been built around Fiji lately to cater for the growing demands of water needs in drought-prone areas around the country.
While responding to statement made by Opposition MP Viliame Gavoka on the regular maintenance of upgrading of water schemes in dry-prone areas, Infrastructure Minister Jone Usamate says water is a basic need and they will ensure all those in drought-prone areas have access to water during dry season.
The new reservoirs have been built in Tacirua, Toorak, Raralevu, Namau, Nawaicoba, Nadi Hospital, and Lalabalavu in the Western Division to name a few.
https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/150219SBUsamate5pm1-online-audio-converter.com_.mp3 “So all of these reservoirs have been developed as part of the strategies for drought mitigation.
We also have a big Programme on water carting, In the rural water carting schedule that is for all the drought-affected areas which include outer islands.” Usamate says the budgetary allocation has also been increased from $3million to $6million to ensure that all water projects are completed to meet the growing demands of Fijians.
He adds under the Rural Water Supply programmer, they have covered over 133 rural settlements and health facilities with 38 water projects currently underway in the Central Division which will benefit more than seven thousand people, 15 projects in the Eastern Division, 27 projects in the Western Division and 53 projects in place in the Northern Division.
Meanwhile, the ministry will also utilize $27 million to 30 more villages which will soon receive clean drinking water through the new Ecological Purification System.
https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/150219SBUsamate5pm2-online-audio-converter.com_.mp3 “We put our money where our mouth is, this includes 18 villages in the Central Division, 5 in the Eastern Division, 2 in the Western Division and 5 in the Northern Division.” Usamate says the ministry will continue to meet the needs of those that need a water supply and providing safe and clean drinking water will always be their priority.

Having arrived in the village of Goura in Cameroon’s far northwest, they are in urgent need of food, shelter, and water, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today, after launching an emergency response.
"They left on foot very early in the morning—women, children, and elderly people," said Dr. Silas Adamou Moussa, MSF deputy program manager for emergencies.
"When they fled, they had to leave elderly and sick relatives behind.
They brought along what possessions they could, but in Goura they have nothing to drink and nowhere to sleep.
The refugees have been staying in a large, informal camp in Goura since late January.
"This is not the first time that people from Rann have had to flee to Cameroon," Dr. Moussa said.
"The first time, some of them returned home after having fled, but not this time.
Their children are afraid."
Access to safe drinking water has been a major problem in the camp.
MSF and other aid providers have been working to increase the provision of drinking water to 240,000 liters per day in the camp.