ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – Human beings are flushing millions of tonnes of solid waste into rivers and oceans every day, poisoning marine life and spreading diseases that kill millions of children annually, according to the United Nations.
“The sheer scale of dirty water means more people now die from contaminated and polluted water than from all forms of violence – including wars,” the United Nations Environment Programme said.
In a report entitled Sick Waterfor World Water Day, the UN programme said the two million tonnes of waste, which contaminated more than two billion tonnes of water daily, had left huge "dead zones" that choked coral reefs and fish. It consisted mostly of sewage, industrial pollution, pesticides from agriculture and animal waste.
The report said a lack of clean water was killing 1.8 million children under five every year. Much of the waste came from developing countries, which dumped 90 per cent of their wastewater untreated.
Diarrhoea, mostly from dirty water, kills about 2.2 million people a year, it said. “Over half the world’s hospital beds are occupied with people suffering from illnesses linked with contaminated water.”
The report recommended water-recycling systems and multimillion- or multibillion-dollar water sewage treatment works. It also suggested protecting wetlands, which act as natural waste processors, and saving animal waste to use as fertiliser.
“If the world is to . . . survive on a planet of six billion people heading to over nine billion by 2050, we need to get smarter about how we manage wastewaters,” said programme director Achim Steiner. “Wastewater is quite literally killing people.” – (Reuters)