Water is an important natural resource. On one hand there is an overuse of clean water during Covid-19 to keep ourselves free from the virus and on the other due to shortage of water, a huge section of population is unable to safeguard itself and maintain basic hygiene levels. Through a PowerPoint presentation express your concern and urgency to use this receding resource judiciously, also highlight the advantages and ill-effects of excessive use of water. (8-10 slides/ ppt).
Answers
As the coronavirus crisis spreads throughout the world, it is increasingly clear that people with the least access to essential services like water will feel the most dramatic effects.
Major health organizations advise washing hands more frequently – for at least 20 seconds – to prevent outbreaks. Yet 3 billion people, 40% of the world’s population, lack access to basic hand-washing facilities in their homes.
And that’s only part of the problem. Nearly a billion people experience only partial access or regular shutoffs even when they do have piped water, making frequent hand-washing difficult or impossible.
Public health depends on secure water resources for all. Governments must take steps to not only expand water access now to control COVID-19, but to create more resilient communities by addressing the root problems of water insecurity.
Immediate Solutions to Increase Water Supplies and Access
The world needs solutions now, like increased access to clean water and hand-washing amenities. Organizations like WHO, UNICEF, UN-Water and Red Cross and Red Crescent are ramping up assistance. There are some examples from other disease outbreaks, such as Ebola in areas of Africa, that could provide immediate strategies. For example, one effective approach uses simple two-bucket hand-washing stations, one with a spigot and a mix of water and chlorine to kill viruses and other pathogens, and another bucket below it to capture the used water.
UN agencies, local governments and even private companies are building drinking water and hand-washing facilities in informal settlements, public places and high-traffic areas. For example, in Rwanda, a country where only 5% of the population has access to hand-washing facilities with soap and water, the city of Kigali recently installed portable hand-washing stations at bus stops, restaurants, banks, taxi queues and car parks to stop the spread of COVID-19. In Ethiopia, businesses, restaurants and apartment buildings placed water and soap outside their entrances.
The problem is particularly difficult for the more than 1 billion people living in slums or informal settlements, where overcrowding and low water access can fuel COVID-19’s spread.
A UN-Habitat-led network of small-scale water and sanitation service providers, utilities and authorities is offering technical advice, online training and information-sharing on responding to COVID-19. The agency is also engaging community leaders and existing slum networks in trainings, managing hand-washing facilities and disseminating information about the disease. And in Syria, UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene programmes are trucking in water for residents in the war-torn city of al-Hassakeh and in camps for displaced persons.
These are encouraging tactics to expand water access quickly and slow the spread of COVID-19. But these are all temporary solutions. What’s also needed to foster resilience to disease outbreaks and other disasters is better water management.