The Federal Government in collaboration with The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have stressed the importance of water and sanitation in safeguarding the health of the children.
In his presentation, the UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Abuja, Zaid Jurji, said investment in water and sanitation is necessary in order for Nigeria to meet the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030.
At the community level, there is a need for them to work at sustainability,” he said.
According to him, only less than 10 per cent of water in Nigeria is suitable for drinking.
Open defecation can also make water unsuitable for drinking despite how much effort we put in to make it suitable”.
Jurji mentioned that 25 per cent of the population in Nigeria practise open defecation, according to the MICS report.
According to him, “It is a fact that UNICEF and EU has been in the forefront of ensuring that we have access to safe drinking water supply, adequate sanitation and proper hygiene in our environment and communities.” Speaking further, Osanyinpeju said WASH remained very important in the life of a Child and significant to achieving Sustaining Development Goal 6.
Open defecation is incredibly dangerous, as contact with human waste can cause diseases such as cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, diarrhoea, worm infestation and undernutrition.” Osanyinpeju said there was a need to improve on water and sanitation in order to end Open Defecation by 2030.
According to him; “Washing hands with soap after going to the toilet or before eating can have a significant impact on children’s health.
Good hygiene practices reduce the incidence of diseases such as pneumonia, trachoma, scabies, skin and eye infections and diarrhoea-related diseases like cholera and dysentery.” “Research has also shown that regular hand washing with soap can reduce the incidents of diarrhoea, a disease which can be deadly to children.” In the same vein, The Plateau state Commissioner for Water Resources and Energy, Engineer David Wuyep who declared the Media Dialogue open, commended UNICEF for its intervention in the provision of water in the state and assured that the state government will always ensure prompt payment of counterpart funds.

About 32 per cent of the population is drinking contaminated water from unimproved water sources.
The majority of these water sources are mainly surface water while some are groundwater sources (open wells and contaminated groundwater aquifers).
Sudan suffers a clear shortage of pure water in its rural districts.
Sudan’s sanitation sector is also facing some serious challenges.
Due to these challenges strategic objectives; raising the number of persons with access to clean and safe drinking water to 82 percent and access to hygiene services to 67 percent by the end of 2016 could not be achieved.
About 50 per cent of the country’s primary schools, in rural areas in particular, neither have sources of clean drinking water nor sewage systems.
Scarcity of water has adverse effects on education in rural areas, because children have to spend a lot of time to bring water to their homes.
Diarrhea in North Sudan is a major problem for the children.
The Sudanese Government and the United Nations had announced the allocation of $1 billion for water funding.
In 2015 the Government of Sudan (GoS) has received financing from the African Development Fund (AfDB) toward the cost of the Water Sector Reforms & Institutional Capacity Development Program.

That water is delivered from a patchwork of community water systems that often don’t meet state or federal standards for drinking water or from private wells that are not tested.
Most people without safe water, or about 99,000 residents, live near a public water system with clean water.
Practical solutions Ways safe drinking water can be achieved, according to the report, include: * Develop and strengthen consolidation and service extension mandates and incentives for cities, counties and community water systems; * Create larger, more stable, and more equitably distributed and coordinated sources of funding for drinking water systems; * Improve public access to data and planning tools; enhance existing data systems and coordinate water monitoring efforts.
Students in the UCD School of Law Aoki Water Justice Clinic have been meeting with these communities to secure funding to build that infrastructure.
Law students are also working with community organizations seeking policy changes to increase access to safe drinking water for low-income Californians.
The study’s purpose is to inform state policy and local planning in order to improve access to safe drinking water for these communities.
People of color made up a majority of those without safe water, the Center for Regional Change study found.
For example, while Hispanics make up just under half, or 49 percent, of the total population of the San Joaquin Valley, they represent more than two-thirds of residents in these unincorporated communities and 57 percent of all residents served by out-of-compliance water systems.
— UC Davis News School of Law Water Justice Clinic The Aoki Water Justice Clinic combines transactional law, policy advocacy, and strategic research to ensure low-income California communities receive clean, safe and affordable drinking water.
* Students are leading or supporting research collaborations, including partnerships with the UCD Center for Regional Change, UC Cooperative Extension, and UC Berkeley School of Law’s Wheeler Water Institute.

ST. JOSEPH, La.
(AP) – The tap water in a Louisiana town of 1,200 is safe to drink, after more than a year on bottled water.
St. Joseph, the Tensas Parish seat, now has more than 14 miles (23 kilometers) of new water lines, 125 new fire hydrants, about 525 new electronic water meters, a new water plant and new wells, the governor’s office said in a news release.
The old water plant also was overhauled.
Gov.
"After living for more than 10 years with discolored water, the people of St. Joseph now have a new water treatment and distribution plant that is fully operational, providing high-quality drinking water daily to homes, schools and businesses," he said in a news release.
After state tests found elevated lead and copper levels in Town Hall and three homes, Edwards ordered tests at all homes, schools and businesses.
The state has been supplying bottles and tanks of water since the emergency declaration, with more bottles from the town and volunteers.
"The latest test results show that the water quality is better than it has been in more than a decade.
This new system is producing water that is clean and safe."

– Gov.
Edwards joined officials in the town of St. Joseph, LA to unveil the new Comprehensive Water Distribution System Replacement Project and lifted the public health emergency declaration.
Edwards made a commitment to the people of St. Joseph to address their water problems, and in less than two years the community has a brand new water system and residents have consistent access to clean, clear and safe drinking water.
“After living for more than 10 years with discolored water, the people of St. Joseph now have a new water treatment and distribution plant that is fully operational, providing high quality drinking water daily to homes, schools and businesses,” said Gov.
“This is among the basic necessities that every community deserves, and as a result of the new system the public health emergency has ended.
“When the problem of lead came to our attention, we immediately began working with all homeowners who would allow us by testing their water before construction began and afterwards,” said State Health Officer Dr. Jimmy Guidry.
Edwards and his administration along with the DRA for making this happen so expeditiously,” said Sen. Thompson.
“This new water plant is an investment in our people and has given us the momentum we need to build a better future.” The new Comprehensive Water Distribution System Replacement Project for St. Joseph includes: – Approx.
The project was completed in four phases: Phase 1 – installation of new water lines and water meters; Phase 2 -rehabbing the existing water plant; Phase 3 – building a new water plant and Phase 4 – drilling new water wells.
Edwards’ administration,” said Project Engineer Davis Cole.

Staff from the Papua New Guinea state owned water and sanitation provider, Eda Ranu, are on strike, and at one stage yesterday shut down the water supply.
The workers are protesting government plans to merge Eda Ranu with Water PNG.
Eda Ranu provides water and sewerage services to Port Moresby whilst Water PNG does the same for other centres in PNG.
Our correspondent said workers are in fear of losing their jobs but the Minister for State Owned Enterprise, William Duma, has assured them that no jobs will be lost.
"We are mindful of job security and the rest of the issues that arise when these sorts of things happen, so we have made it very clear from the start there will be no loss of jobs.
Expanding our services providing more efficient services."
Meanwhile water supplies had been restored to the capital on Tuesday afternoon.
The move came after directives from the board of Eda Ranu and deputy police commissioner, Jim Andrews, who said every citizen has a constitutional right of access to clean and safe drinking water and the actions of those involved in the shutdown were criminal acts.

She wakes up early in the morning to make it to a long queue for water.
Every summer is a new battle for these residents.
Is Delhi really going thirsty?
In the early 1950s, the quality of urban water services in Delhi was similar to the best of other major urban centres of Asia.
The situation is so bad that every household in every city in the country has turned into a mini jal board – households build an overhead tank, keep flocks of buckets to store water, get additional pipe fitted to connect the supplies with the tank and install membranes and water purifying systems to make the water drinkable.
Worse, the solutions are not complex, they are operable.
Nearly 63 million people in India do not have access to safe drinking water, and increased pollution of water-bodies and poor storage infrastructure over the years, has created a water deficit which may become unmanageable in the future.
The Asian Development Bank has forecasted that by 2030, India will have a water deficit of 50 per cent.
The UN estimates that global demand for water will exceed supply by 2030, which means many more megacities will be in the same boat as Cape Town.
Back in India, Bangalore could be our first victim.

FOX 12’s Nick Krupke met a group of running mothers in Scappoose who are hitting the trails to help curb the global water crisis.
Five moms in Columbia County are pushing beyond their limits to make a world of change.
“Sixty-three million people around the world don’t have clean drinking water and we were listening to story after story of moms and what they have to do for their children, walking four to six hours a day just to get clean drinking water and our hearts were definitely moved,” said Katrina Sharp, a mother of two.
“We are running moms and we can actually do a fundraiser.
We have Highway 30 here along the beautiful Columbia River and we were thinking, ‘We can do a 30 for 30 on Highway 30,’” Sharp said.
“I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life as a nurse where I see firsthand the impact that a lack of clean water can have and it is a global crisis,” Rotter said.
Not just water, but clean water.” Mom Alison Kangas said, “The idea of a finish line is really cool for us because there is always a finish line when you sign up for a race and we are working to see the end of the global water crisis ended in our lifetime and see that finish line.” The mothers from St. Helens, Scappoose and Warren are thinking above and beyond themselves.
“I think when you know that 663 million people don’t have access to clean water, when you know that one in 10 people on this planet don’t have access to clean water, you can’t help but not feel compelled to do something about it,” said Ashley Strausser, a mom of three.
While Kangas and Sharp are training for the full 30 miles, the other three moms, including former University of Portland runner Rotter, will be on a relay.
The moms wanted to make sure to get a shout out to their husbands and mother-in-laws that help them get away for their long training runs on the weekends.

According to the official data, around 65 per cent population in Jammu and Kashmir have access to tap water of which 34.7 per cent get water from treated sources and 29.2 percent from untreated sources.
The rest population gets water from springs, lakes, canals and other water bodies.
Medical experts are of the opinion that the percentage of people in J&K suffering from various abdominal disorders, including liver and kidney ailments are the result of consumption of untreated water.
There has been sharp increase in water borne diseases for the past several years which health experts in their reports had mentioned that these diseases had emerged due to supplying of “contamination and unfiltered” water to the people.
A PHE official wishing anonymity said, “The rickety apparatus for water testing, and poor state of existing water supply schemes was resulting in poor quality of drinking water in Kashmir.” He added that in many areas of Kashmir, especially the rural ones, water was supplied through pumping stations that neither had a filtration plant, nor a reservoir.
“The water is just lifted and pumped, without any treatment.
However, people complain that unfiltered and muddy tap water was being supplied to them without any filtration being done.
In J&K thousands of water supply schemes were taken up for execution over the years, majority of them have not been completed thus forcing people to consume water from the contaminated sources.
Official sources said that around 1,900 water supply schemes have been started by the successive governments in the eight years in the state.
While for Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh region, 149 such schemes have been allotted.

A coliform test can tell if your well is impacted by septic leakage or manure runoff, but it won’t tell you if residues from agricultural chemicals or spilled gas or oil are getting in your water.
Those are very different kinds of tests.
Across the northeastern US in general, most aquifers are shallow; on average less than 80 feet below the surface.
A drilled well is more secure, but regardless how deep it is, it’s still vulnerable to surface contamination near the wellhead.
Many older pesticides contained high levels of lead, arsenic and copper, heavy metals which do not break down, and some farms still have high levels of these metals in the soil.
How do organic pollutants get into our water?
It’s shockingly easy to pollute groundwater here in the northeast where it rains a lot and the distance to groundwater is relatively small.
(Fortunately, the odor threshold for benzene is 50-100 ppb, so you’d never be drinking benzene at that level).
Testing for organics is complicated: for example, checking for gas and solvents, pesticides, and antifreeze all require different tests.
Most contaminants can be removed with the right kind of filtration system, but systems can be quite expensive to maintain.