Accelerating Change to Solve the Water Crisis
Water is the lifeblood of a healthy people and planet and is critical for economic growth, healthy ecosystems, and life itself. But with over 2.3 billion people without safe drinking water and 3.6 billion people lacking safe sanitation, a global water crisis currently threatens development. The global economic costs of water insecurity estimated at nearly $500 billion per year. Worsening droughts and flooding due to climate change and a burgeoning population compound the problem. There is an urgent need to accelerate change—to go beyond "business as usual" to address the water crisis.
As the world’s largest multilateral source of financing for water in developing countries, the World Bank Group is committed to innovative, inclusive, and sustainable water action as we work together with our partners towards a water-secure world.
Yemen is one of the world's most water-scarce countries, and ongoing conflict has exacerbated the crisis.
Across Yemen, countless rural villages lack basic services, but access to safe drinking water is the biggest challenge for many in these vulnerable communities. Over 55 percent of the country's population—nearly 18 million people—lack access to safe water and sanitation.
Obtaining drinking water is a daily chore, with the responsibility almost always falling on women and children to fetch water.
To improve access to potable water and support families in three villages, Al-Adn, Al-Anin, and Hawf, the World Bank and its partners worked with the communities to build their own rainwater harvesting schemes.
The project demonstrates a simple technology that can play an increasingly important role in mitigating the effects of global warming and improving the lives of many people, particularly those in rural areas.
Haliya Al-Jalal, a resident of the Al-Adn village and a mother of six children, says that before, her family had to walk long distances to collect water. But the rainwater harvesting cisterns have eased stresses on Haliya and her family.
“We no longer have to go through the struggle of fetching water from remote areas,” she says. The cistern “has put an end to our misery.”
"Clean water is now close to our homes," says Mohammed Jubran, a former member of the local council in Wesab al-Aali.
"This has allowed many children, especially girls, to go back to school and continue their education.”
The water conservation schemes are part of the World Bank’s IDA-supported Yemen Emergency Crisis Response Project (YECRP), implemented by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with the Social Fund for Development and the Public Works Project in Yemen. So far, YECRP has supported the construction of 1,279 public and 30,686 household rainwater harvesting reservoirs and cisterns across Yemen, providing nearly 900,000 cubic meters of clean water.
The World Bank also supports a broad effort to improve access to water and sanitation for millions of people in Yemen through similar partnerships with United Nations agencies such as UNDP, UNICEF, UNOPS and WHO. Some 3.4 million people gained access to improved water sources in cholera-affected areas of the country through the Emergency Health and Nutrition Project; 3.24 million gained access to sanitation services.
In Tanzania, over half of healthcare facilities report routine water shortages, which interferes with hygienic care.
According to the latest Joint Monitoring Programme report by WHO and UNICEF on WASH in healthcare facilities, half of all health care facilities globally lack basic hygiene services. Of the countries with available data, one in ten health care facilities globally had no sanitation service; in sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion jumps to one in five.
In May of 2018, Dr. Ndavukai Larinyoni arrived at Itepula village in the southwestern region of Songwe, Tanzania. She was starting a new job as the physician in charge of the local dispensary, which serves 4,500 residents and offers out-patient services, as well as reproductive and child health services.
At the time, the facility had no access to safe water and sanitation, so Dr. Ndavukai would come to work at 6:00 each morning, three hours before the clinic opened, to collect water for the day.
“We had to queue for water along with the rest of the residents at the sole borehole, and if you were lucky to find the water flowing, the queue was always something to contend with,” says Dr. Ndavukai.
“When the pump broke down, which was frequently, we had to go find water further out at unsafe shallow wells. We also had no toilets on site, so we would go to the village office to use their pit latrine.”
Through the World Bank's Sustainable Rural Water Supply & Sanitation Program in Tanzania, 1,535 health facilities and dispensaries and 637 public primary schools have gained access to safe sanitation and hygiene facilities to date. The program targets providing sanitation facilities to 2,600 health facilities and dispensaries and 1,850 primary schools by the end of implementation in 2025.
“It makes me happy to just be able to turn around in my chair and wash my hands at the tap here in my office after seeing a patient, as this is how it should be,” says Dr. Ndavukai.
“Access to water is critical for delivering our services.”
Since the program's implementation in 2019, more than 3.3 million people in Tanzania have gained access to improved water supply and 4.67 million people to improved sanitation. The program is set to expand to more regions in the country, with the aim of providing WASH access to 10 million citizens.
India is the largest user of groundwater globally, extracting more than the United States and China combined.
Groundwater is one of the world’s most important natural resources. For the majority of people of India, groundwater is the only source of water.
Over 80 percent of domestic water supplies and about 60 percent of irrigation water in the country are served by groundwater. But these resources are under increasing pressure due to overexploitation, pollution and climate change. Already, almost two-thirds—63 percent—of India’s districts are threatened by falling groundwater levels.
To address the crisis, India launched its landmark groundwater program, Atal Bhujal Yojana, in 2019. Since groundwater conservation lies in the hands of hundreds of millions of people, the program placed communities at the heart of the effort, bringing together scientific inputs with traditional wisdom to address this complex challenge.
In 2020, the World Bank began supporting the program in over 8,000 water-scarce gram panchayats (village councils) in seven Indian states - from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in the north, to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west, to Madhya Pradesh in central India and Karnataka in the south. These states account for about 25 percent of the area where groundwater is under stress.
Thanks to the program, communities have begun to monitor groundwater levels in more than 6,000 observation wells. Several states are piloting schemes that incentivize farmers to conserve groundwater. In addition, over 2,200 villages have drawn up water budgets that show how much groundwater is available, how much is estimated to be recharged, and how much can be set aside for agriculture, by far the largest user of this resource.
"Groundwater is India’s most crucial water reserve, and managing this national resource is core to Government’s goal of building a resilient India.”
—Junaid Ahmad, Vice President of Operations, MIGA and former World Bank Country Director for India
Under the Atal Bhujal Yojana program, the reversal of groundwater overexploitation and degradation is placed in the hands of the hundreds of millions of individuals and communities. The program provides the incentives, information, support, and resources to move to a more sustainable development and management of groundwater resources.
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