News from Welsh Labour

World Water Week: Wales should set an example says AM

As a “water-rich nation”, Wales should be a shining example to the rest of the world when it comes to preserving our greatest natural resource. That’s the view of Wrexham’s Labour Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths, at the start of World Water Week 2009.

The AM made her remarks as the leaders and experts gather in Stockholm, Sweden this week to take stock of mounting global concern about the demand and supply of water in many countries in the future.

Access to water is becoming more challenging every year due to a rising water demand and unreliable availability.

With almost one billion people lacking access to safe water the annual World Water Week – being held between 16th and 22nd August – serves as a forum for global leaders and experts to share innovative solutions on water-related issues and its impact on poverty, health, education, gender equality and the environment.

The theme of World Water Week 2009 is “Responding to Global Changes: Accessing Water for the Common Good”.

Water is rapidly escalating up the political agenda, with ever-growing demands on the resource being used up in the production of goods such as cotton, beans or wood for export to developed countries, such as the UK – so-called ‘embedded water’.

Ms. Griffiths, who is a Member of the National Assembly’s Sustainability, recently raised the issue in the Senedd of the importance of having policies in place which will promote a responsible use for water in the future.

Whilst 87 per cent of the global population (approximately 5.7 billion people) have access to safe drinking water, much remains to be done, particularly as water stress grows due to increasing demand and the impacts of climate change.

Every day approximately 4,500 children die before their fifth birthday due to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. Simple, affordable and effective interventions such as handwashing with soap and water help reduce the incidence diarrheal morbidity – the second biggest killer of children under five – by up to 47 per cent.

In recent years the global economic turmoil along with an increase in emergencies has left millions, particularly women and children, without basic services including access to water and adequate sanitation and hygiene. Climate change will further exacerbate this situation.

Commenting on World Water Week, Lesley Griffiths said:

“The term ‘carbon footprint’ has now entered everyday language. However, in the future we are all going to hear considerably more about our ‘water footprint’ as we will be required to take considerably better care of this precious resource over the coming years.

“We are incredibly lucky in Wales at being able to have access to copious amounts of safe water. We are truly a water-rich nation. Also, compared to some other less-fortunate countries in the world, we are able to take better care of this precious resource.

“However, the goods we import and the processes by which those goods are produced, are now beginning to have a detrimental effect on those countries whose water supplies are drying up. Hopefully, World Water Week will enable developed nations to focus on this aspect of water consumption and devise policies that can help poorer countries in the future.

“I know the Welsh Assembly Government is taking its water policy very seriously and this is be welcomed. We are blessed with having an abundance of water in Wales and we should be a shining example to the rest of world, when it comes to looking after our greatest natural resource.

For more information about World Water Week 2009, please visit: www.worldwaterweek.org

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