COVID-19 spread faster as billions unable to access water to wash hands: UN

NEW DELHI: A serious shortage of household water affecting two out of five people around the world is weakening attempts to control the coronavirus pandemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the main routes of COVID-19 transmission are droplets and direct contact and its spread can be restricted by washing hands frequently and thoroughly. Yet, there are some 3 billion people who do not have access to running water and soap at home, and 4 billion suffer from severe water scarcity for at least one month a year, the United Nations (UN) group UN-Water said.

Gilbert F. Houngbo, UN-Water Chair, said in an interview that it is a disastrous situation for people living without access to safe water and safely managed sanitation. He added that because of the chronic underinvestment, billions are left vulnerable, consequences of which are now visible. Every individual today is at risk because of years of delayed investment in clean water and sanitation and a cycle of infection and reinfection is getting generated as the virus is spreading through developed and developing nations. 

According to the UN, $6.7 trillion must be spent by the world on water infrastructure by 2030 and it should not be just for urgent sanitation needs but for addressing long term issues arising from the pandemic, such as providing adequate irrigation to cope with food crisis, Houngbo said. He added that by the year 2050, there could be as many as 5.7 billion people living in areas with water scarcity for at least one month a year which will create an unprecedented competition for water.

Several companies have taken action to provide solutions for the most immediate problems. Japan’s Lixil Group Corp, that owns brands like American Standard and Grohe, has partnered with UNICEF and others to develop an off-grid hand washing gadget which requires only a small quantity of water in a bottle. In India, 500,000 units will be donated to serve 2.5 million people for $1 million before it will launch retail sales.

Clarissa Brocklehurst, faculty member, Water Institute at University of North Carolina and a former water, sanitation and hygiene chief, UNICEF, said it is a quick and short-term response to combat the pandemic but more sustainable measures are required, such as installation of piped water to more homes. A further example of devastating consequences of the pandemic revealing inequality is the lack of access to clean water and sanitation. Water mismanagement has an enormous effect on the poor, who depend more on rain-fed agriculture for food and are most at risk from polluted water and inadequate sanitation, said the World Bank.

The underprivileged people in cities are extremely vulnerable because they live in highly populated areas where social distancing is difficult, especially when they need to share a water source. Carissa Etienne, Director, Pan American Health Organization, said that the spread of coronavirus in Americas was difficult to contain in poor urban areas that have insufficient access to water, sanitation and public health facilities. 

By one estimate, rising level of global warming would subject about 7 per cent of the global population to a 20 per cent decrease of renewable water resources. Climate-induced water stress can be reduced by as much as 50 per cent if the warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to 2 degrees. 

Brocklehurst said that hand washing was infantilized for so long and now all of the sudden it has become a matter of life and death.