JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — While people in wealthy suburbs of Africa use water to maintain lush lawns and fill swimming pools, many slum dwellers struggle to obtain the crucial resource and pay much more per gallon for what little of it they can get, according to a United Nations Development Program report calling for an end to "water apartheid."
At the same time, dirty water is the second-leading cause of death among children globally, after respiratory infections. It kills 1.8 million children younger than 5 each year, more than do HIV/AIDS, malaria, war or traffic accidents, says the U.N. report released Thursday in Cape Town.
"In the year 2015 they plan to send a spaceship to Jupiter to search for water, yet in Africa or India we can't get water to people who need it," Kevin Watkins, the report's author, said at a briefing for media in Johannesburg. The session was held Tuesday, though release of the report was embargoed until Thursday.
The report's main contention is that if countries increase access to clean water and sanitation simultaneously, the rates of child survival in developing countries can rocket "almost overnight," Watkins said.
Globally, 2.6 billion people have no access to proper sanitation. The 1.1 billion people who don't have clean water use about 1.3 gallons a day, compared with the 40 gallons used by average Americans, the planet's biggest water guzzlers.
"It is hard to find anything that has a greater impact on human life than water," Watkins said.
In Peru, offspring in families with toilets and clean water are 59% more likely to survive childhood than those without, according to the report. In Egypt, the figure is 57%.
In cities such as Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania, people pay more for water than do New Yorkers, Watkins said.
Many of those developing countries that are boosting access to water are not increasing the number of toilets or improving drainage systems, he said, risking the spread of disease.
The water and sanitation crisis in sub-Saharan Africa slowed economic growth by 5% of gross domestic product per year, more than the region receives in foreign aid, the report says.
A big increase in spending on water and sanitation would pay for itself in economic growth.
"No other investment could bring greater benefits," Watkins said.
