Nepal: Clean Water, Sanitation and Socio-Economic Growth

Govt should expand tax base to break ‘begging bowl’: COAS Bajwa
October 12, 2017
Militants and Politics in Pakistan
October 19, 2017
Govt should expand tax base to break ‘begging bowl’: COAS Bajwa
October 12, 2017
Militants and Politics in Pakistan
October 19, 2017

Article 11 (1) of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights guarantees the Right of everyone to an Adequate Standard of Living, including adequate food, clothing and housing. Similarly sub article (2) of the same Article enumerates the Right of everyone to be free from hunger.
But still Hundreds and Thousands of people are dying from hunger let alone adequate standard of living. In some parts of the world, quenching thirst have been their topmost priority rather than predicting about the effect of ‘ Brexit’ in their share market.

Water is an inherent basic need of any group of people. It is unimaginable to sustain the life without water. However millions of people have been deprived from the adequate supply of clean drinking water. As a consequence they have been dying simply because of short supply of clean drinking water. Amongst them, the children are the most vulnerable who gets easily suffered and get diagnosed with the diseases associated with water.
According to the World Health Organization, each day some 3,900 children die because of dirty water or poor hygiene; diseases transmitted through water or human excrement are the second-leading cause of death among children worldwide, after respiratory diseases. Thus anticipating the need of Clean drinking water as an inherent Right, Universal access to clean water and sanitation was architected as one of the 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Conjointly in December, 2003, the United Nations General Assembly, proclaimed the period 2005-2015 International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’. The decade officially started on World Water Day, March 22, 2005.

Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in. There is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this. But due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year millions of people, most of them children, die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene. Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. By 2050, at least one in four people is likely in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water.

On this note, it is mandatory to perceive the concept of “Environmental Ethics.” Environmental Ethics is the philosophical discipline that considers the moral and ethical relationship of human beings to the environment. In other words: what, if any, moral obligation does men have to the preservation and care of the non-human world?
Environmental Ethics and Socio-Economic Development are intensely interdependent and inter related to one another. Socio-Economic Development is the subset of Environmental Ethics. When the Environmental Ethics are not complied in the process of Environmental Development, then Human Displacement occur as a result. To explicitly explain further, the following figure shall be outlined:

Fig: Inter-dependence between Environmental Ethics, Socio Economic Development and Human Displacement.

The above figure clearly portrays the interdependence between the environmental ethics, socio-economic development and human displacement. Lao Tzu, the Chinese Philosopher enumerates that everything in the Nature shall be used wisely so that it would ensue a productive outcome. Optimum utilization of the resources appended by the Equitable distribution of resources is one the most considerable point to be taken while formulating any sorts of plans or policies whether it be National , Regional or International.

Water undoubtedly is for the Life, whether it is the life of the person belonging to the Developed Nations or the Least developed ones like Nepal. Nepal stand as one of the abundant sources of water supplies possessing more than 6000 rivers but still the depressing reality is that people have to stay in a long queue for hours to get the bucket full of water let alone “Clean and Hygienic water”.

However the basic water supply coverage in Nepal was 83.6 per cent in 2014, while sanitation had reached 70.3 per cent of the population. Two thirds of the Nepali Population now uses latrines and 30 Per cent of urban households are connected to sewage systems, still tens of thousands of population of Nepal have been deprived of the clean drinking water supply. According to Nepal’s Water and Energy Commission Secretariat, more than one in four (28%) Nepalese people do not have access to a basic water supply, while three in four (75%) have no sanitation facilities. The gap in provision between rural and urban areas is large, with urban areas significantly better off. Most rural areas of Nepal still do not have clean and safe drinking water facilities. Hence appending some of the recommendations with the above mentioned gaps, they shall be enshrined as:

• The easy access to water or the abundance of clean drinking water could be one of the major steps that
could be adopted by the Government of Nepal. For instance: While I was in a conference in the USA, the
people over there drank the water directly from the tap which surprised me. On discourse I got to know that
the tap water has been made drinkable which is not the similar scenario in context of Nepal.
• The architecture of fountains (drinkable water) in the public places and resting station could be very
thought proving.
• Awareness campaign in the remote areas regarding the sanitation and hygienic water until the people
become
acquainted with clean drinking water could be helpful. One day campaign or a weekly campaign would not be
effective.
• As the Nepalese society is chained in the evil of social stratification, the so called Dalits are not
allowed to borrow the water from the common tap in the village which deprives them from the same and thus
they are compelled to drink the water from the polluted river. On this note organizing the campaign against
the discrimination would prove contributory.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Nation does not determine the necessity of the Water in the particular Nation. Thus the most important thing to be taken into consideration is that how tactfully we apply the Environmental Ethics to maintain the Socio Economic Development of the Humans so that Human Displacement would not be the problem. In a nutshell, the article aims to celebrate the importance of Water for Life and vows to inflict the importance of socio economic development in the current world affairs and lastly aims to raise the question of attaining the SDG 6 in Nepal to ponder upon.

Writer

Dechen Hyolmo Lama
Dechen Hyolmo Lama is a human rights lawyer and currently working as a program officer, advocating for the people without civil documentation in one of the NGO's. She is based in Kathmandu, Nepal. She can be reached at: dechenlama23@gmail.com
Nepal: Clean Water, Sanitation and Socio-Economic Growth
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By using this website you agree to our Data Protection Policy.
Read more