How climate change is making it harder for people to access clean water – Steve Cardownie

A charity I contribute to, WaterAid, devotes itself to ensuring that people throughout the world have access to clean water and it recently highlighted the effect that weather disasters are having on achieving that goal.

A young girl from the remote Turkana tribe in northern Kenya digs a hole in a dried-up river bed to retrieve water (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

It states that “one in ten people worldwide still do not have clean water. Our climate is changing at an alarming rate, making it even harder for people to get clean water. More frequent and extreme flooding is polluting fragile water sources; longer droughts are drying up springs. Lives are at risk.”

WaterAid says that the answer lies with a supply of water that keeps pumping through flood, drought and disaster. It could mean communities raising waterpoints so that they withstand floods and storing water in tanks for times of drought and so that they can monitor levels and prepare for shortages.

The charity knows that with clean water people stay alive and healthy. They can work and go to school and, if disaster strikes, they’ll have the resources to respond and recover.

The charity embarks on a number of initiatives throughout the year and invites people to visit their website to see the work and projects that it undertakes.

The current Covid-19 pandemic is consuming a great amount of our energy but recent climate change-related extreme weather events remind us that other problems exist and must be tackled head on.

Surely being able to drink clear fresh water is a human right and should be extended to everyone?

We take much for granted but it is worth remembering that not everyone can just turn on a tap and drink clean water.

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