Several billion people around the world live without sufficient access to clean water.
The water crisis in the Cape Town has commanded headlines around the globe when the African National Congress declared a national state of emergency as the city had expected to run out of drinking water by April.
The city of 20 million faced its own Day Zero in 2015.
China is home to 20 percent of the world’s population but has only seven percent of the world’s fresh water available.
Challenges facing Cairo include the facts that 4.5 billion cubic meters of its water come from non-renewable sources and that its main source of water, the Nile, is a transboundary river.
In Mexico City, 20 percent of residents have tap water available only a few hours a week, and another 20 percent have running water just part of the day.
The city’s 30 million residents depend on surface water for 70 percent of their supply.
They serve as the early warning systems that demand correction now and in the future.
A March 2018 report World Water Development Report from the UN said that 36 percent of the cities in the world will face a water crisis by 2050.
Everyone has the right to sufficient, continuous, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic use.” Sources: The Mirror, Water shortage crisis: Millions of residents in London and South-East urged to use “as little as possible” after extreme weather hits supplies

Groundwater at as many as 14 power plants around the state — from IPL’s Harding Street station in Indianapolis up to NIPSCO’s Michigan City station and down to Duke’s Gallagher station in New Albany — was found to have dangerous levels of pollution, according to an analysis by the Indianapolis Star.
Coal ash contamination concerns This is the first time groundwater testing has been required at all of Indiana’s coal ash dumps, where millions of tons of coal ash sit in unlined pits.
Many plants also exceeded the 15 ppb action level or limit for lead, such as Duke’s western Indiana Cayuga station by nearly three times.
Previous tests done by Marion County health officials showed elevated levels of boron in their well, but not above safe drinking water standards.
"I just want to know," Cravens added, "what is the next step?"
Pam Thevenow with the Marion County Public Health Department encourages all residents with private wells to have them tested to ensure their water is safe.
"So that is evidence that it can pose a health risk, and it has," Thevenow has told IndyStar.
"When necessary," he said, "we will work with facilities to implement site-specific remedial actions."
Several other utilities — including IPL, NIPSCO and Vectren — said they are in the process of working to close their ash pits.
"It looks to me like we can’t close the ash in place," she said, adding that several unlined sites around the country closed with a cap still indicate groundwater contamination.

WaterHealth India Pvt.
Ltd. will install about 900 decentralized plants across the country to purify water on site.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US government’s development finance institution, will fund a project to distribute clean water to millions of Indians at an affordable price.
80 crores) loan to a project that will expand access to affordable clean drinking water to millions of low and middle-income people in India, said a statement issued by the US Embassy in India.
The loan will be provided to WaterHealth India Pvt.
Ltd., a subsidiary of WaterHealth International, Inc. of Irvine, California, to enhance the clean water distribution facilities in India.
The water purified from the plants will be distributed to the public at a price that is three to four times lower than bottled water alternatives currently available in the marketplace.
An estimated 63 million Indians don’t have access to clean drinking water.
“WaterHealth International has been committed to improving access to safe and affordable drinking water for underserved consumers for over a decade.
In addition to expanding the availability of safe water, the project is projected to create more than 1,300 jobs in India and introduce advanced technologies and business models for providing potable water.

A four-year report by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources states that 86 per cent of the 28 samples tested in the report in Karachi were contaminated.
Samples collected from Islamabad were 68 per cent adulterated and Lahore had 25 per cent of the tested samples polluted by bacterial contaminants.
In 2015, 81 percent of the samples were deemed contaminated due to bacterial presence.
In most rural areas of Pakistan, ground surface water and tube wells are used for drinking without slow sand filtration and chlorination at filtration stations.
Since most of the cities of Pakistan consume ground water as the primary source of drinking water, its infestation with various pathogens such as viral, bacterial and protozoan agents cause 2.5 million deaths from endemic diarrheal disease each year.
“Direct consumption of water is not the only way one can get ill; dirty water used to wash vegetables can often lead to waterborne diseases directly as well,” says Dr Taj.
“Good hygienic care and consistent socio-economic backup support is required from the councils to ameliorate the disease burden as treatment lays in prevention.” According to Dr Taj, a higher number of people are seen with acute viral hepatitis as it needs immediate tending to than chronic diseases like diarrhea.
AVH is caused due to the transmission of viruses through the fecal-oral route.
Prevention strategies can include source protection, halogenation of water, or boiling water for one minute.
In 2016, an outbreak of a drug resistant strain of Typhoid alerted people from consuming food and water products of questionable nature.

And the numbers do not stay idle.
From 2014 to 2017 due to an increasing concern regarding various health problems caused by consumption of contaminated water, the global bottled market grew from $170.6 billion to $238.5 billion following 8.74% yearly growth, states the report on the Bottled Water Market 2018 from The Business Research Company.
By value the market is going to reach $349 billion by 2021 following 10% yearly growth.
The volume’s growth will be a bit lower, but not by a significant number, at 9.3% yearly growth to reach 623 billion liters by 2021.
The consumption of the bottled water in 2017 was the highest in the Asia Pacific region accounting for 42% of the global bottled water consumption.
Following the health awareness trend, bottled water consumers in the Asia Pacific region are also increasingly adopting new products with health benefits, such as functional water, which added functional value in the form of minerals, oxygen and vitamins.
Data segmentations: country and regional historic and forecast data, market share of competitors, market segments.
The Business Research Company is a market research and intelligence company which excels in company, market and consumer research.
It has research professionals at its office in the UK, India, and the US as well a network of trained researchers globally.
The Business Research Company’s management have more than 20 years of varied business research experience.

What are the causes of inequalities in access to water in Jakarta?
Beyond piped network Examining the role of centralised piped networks in producing inequalities in access to urban water supply has been a dominant question within academic analysis concerned with social inequalities in the city.
But the theoretical frameworks used to answer questions of water, urbanisation, and inequalities are often derived from experiences in Europe—where centralised piped networks are generally the dominant, if not only, water supply in cities.
To explain inequalities in access to water in Jakarta, examining the flows of groundwater, wastewater and piped water can provide a better answer than looking at the fragmentation of the piped water network.
We found that there is a connection between over-abstraction of deep groundwater in rich neighbourhoods and salinisation of shallow groundwater in poor neighbourhoods.
The result is that the city’s poorest residents, living on the most marginal land, experience higher exposure to flooding and poorer quality water.
The ability of wealthy households and businesses to opt out of centralised water supply limits the possibility to cross-subsidise either water consumption or water connections for low-income areas and households.
Jakarta’s experience shows that inequalities in access to water go far beyond the presence or absence of a piped network.
In looking beyond piped water networks to understand how water inequalities happen, we joined a movement in the scientific world “to world”.
This helps to keep our stories and resources free for all, and it also supports independent journalism dedicated to sustainable development.

A PIONEERING Runcorn company is tackling pollution with the latest technology.
The business is working live client treatability trials as well as extensive research and development projects.
Arvia’s unique Nyex™ Treatment Systems selectively treat problematic trace level organic contaminants in water bodies and have already been deployed worldwide.
The systems enable contaminated abstracted water to be used, industrial process water to be safely reused and wastewater to be treated at source, so that it is safe to discharge back into the environment.
Mr Twigg said:“The work Arvia is doing to tackle water pollution is fantastic.
Water pollution is a serious global issue, so to see a Runcorn-based company taking such a proactive approach to dealing with this pressing challenge is inspiring.
“Arvia is an example of the wealth of talent across the North-West and to be working alongside global companies is a testament to the ground-breaking work they’re doing.
Not only is Arvia striving for water sustainability, but they are creating highly skilled jobs for people in the area.
“If we continue to allow usable water supplies to deplete at the current rate, by 2030 water demand is going to surpass supply by 60 per cent – decisive action is needed to make we protect our water reserves, so this doesn’t happen.
We are continuing to introduce our water treatment systems to new sectors and conduct ongoing research to develop and improve the technology to suit the current and future needs of our clients.”

Thiruvananthapuram:The Kerala government on Tuesday decided to declare nine of its 14 districts as drought-hit in view of scarcity of rains, shortage of surface and ground water and intrusion of saline water.
A meeting of the state disaster management authority presided over by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to declare the districts of Kannur, Alappuzha, Idukki, Kasaragod, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur and Waynad as drought-hit, an official release said.
The official declaration in this regard would be made by the state relief commissioner, it said.
Sunil Kumar and chief secretary Paul Antony were among those who took part in the meeting.
It was also decided at the meeting that immediate steps would be taken for distribution of drinking water through tankers and kiosks to tide over the drought situation, the release added.
According to the Central Meteorological Department, there was shortfall of rain during the 2017 North-East monsoon that sets in during October-December.
In the hilly Idukki district, presently there was no drought situation.
However, it had been included in the list of drought-hit as the main sources of water were expected to dry up as summer intensifies, the release added.
First Published: Tue, Mar 27 2018.
03 17 PM IST

Hawa’u Dauda, a mother of five, is one of many women in Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria, who had to trek for miles to fetch clean water every day for the family, despite having a borehole close to home.
“We saw earthworms in the water and stopped using the borehole,” says Hawa’u.
The stagnant water was becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes.” “Now it is clean and has improved the health of my family and the community,” explains Hawa’u smiling.
With the help of IFRC, the Nigerian Red Cross is helping more than 40,000 people access clean drinking water through household water treatment, safe storage and the rehabilitating of water points in 63 communities in Adamawa state.
63 million without access to clean water in Nigeria Lack of safe drinking water is a common challenge in Nigeria, affecting many rural communities and city slums.
About 63 million out of 187 million Nigerians do not have access to clean water.
In the northeast alone, the persistent conflict has turned 3.9 million people in need of water.
According to an IFRC and Nigerian Red Cross needs assessment conducted in 2017, about 39 per cent of water infrastructure is non-functioning in Adamawa State.
“Bringing water closer to home means that women and children – who carry the brunt of collecting water – have more time for their school studies, household duties and quality time with their families,” says Zakari Issa, IFRC water, sanitation and hygiene coordinator for West and Central Africa.
“As Red Cross, we’re working to ensure greater access to water for all.” In 2017, the Nigerian Red Cross reached more than 24,000 people with hygiene promotion, water transport and storage containers and water treatment tablets in Adamawa State.

But instead of sitting at a desk with a book in her hand, Veronika sets out for the forest to gather wood every day after school.
After gathering wood, Veronika doesn’t have enough time to study.
I am tired, really tired, but I must help them”, she said.
Mary Anyango, a young mother and health worker from Migori, Kenya walks for 20 minutes each way from her home and back to fetch water from the river.
The lack of access to clean water has threatened her young children’s health with typhoid, cholera, and diarrhoea.
Water borne diseases are the biggest health problems for her community, she said.
Her eldest daughter dreams of becoming a doctor some day, and Negrete sees that making sure her children are drinking clean water is one way to help them realise their ambitions.
The lives of these three women are featured in the documentary, “The Power of Clean Water,” produced jointly by Procter & Gamble (P&G) and National Geographic and screened in Singapore on for World Water Day.
“Clean water can improve people’s health, help children stay in school and provide better economic opportunities for their families,” she said.
Jill Cress, chief marketing officer for National Geographic partners, said the documentary reflects the very real and powerful stories of people whose lives have been impacted by programmes that provide access to clean drinking water.