Clean water: a global pipe dream?

Copyright: FAO

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Clean water: a global pipe dream?</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>More than a billion people still lack access to clean water. Nor is there much available. Some 95 per cent of the world’s freshwater is locked deep in the ground, far from the reach of millions in the drylands of the developing world.  </P><br />
<P>In this article, Rhona MacDonald, assistant editor at the <em>British Medical Journal</em>, reveals the chequered history of the effort to get clean water to the developing world. Barriers and problems have abounded — from water conflicts to aid that fails to monitor local needs, and a lack of essential funding.</P><br />
<P>MacDonald says that the outlook is grim if a truly cooperative effort fails to get off the ground. Governments, donors, nongovernmental organisations and communities need to pull together — and urgently. For far too many millions, time is running out.</P><br />
<P><a  href="http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7429/1416" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to article in the <EM>British Medical Journal</EM></A></P><br />
<P>Reference: <em>BMJ</em> 327, 1416 (2003)</P></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/clean-water-a-global-pipe-dream/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/clean-water-a-global-pipe-dream/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

More than a billion people still lack access to clean water. Nor is there much available. Some 95 per cent of the world’s freshwater is locked deep in the ground, far from the reach of millions in the drylands of the developing world.

In this article, Rhona MacDonald, assistant editor at the British Medical Journal, reveals the chequered history of the effort to get clean water to the developing world. Barriers and problems have abounded — from water conflicts to aid that fails to monitor local needs, and a lack of essential funding.

MacDonald says that the outlook is grim if a truly cooperative effort fails to get off the ground. Governments, donors, nongovernmental organisations and communities need to pull together — and urgently. For far too many millions, time is running out.

Link to article in the British Medical Journal

Reference: BMJ 327, 1416 (2003)