Water - a human right?

[Frances]

The other day I heard something completely appalling. Last month, the United Nations voted on whether or not the right to water should be added to the UN charter of human rights. Out of the 196 countries in the UN, 195 voted yes, and 1 voted no. That country was Canada, and as I live in Canada, I was naturally appalled. Canada has 25% of the world's fresh water, and the only reason that our Prime Minister voted no on the bill was because he wants to be able to sell that water, rather than feeling obligated to give it away for free. I think this decision was extremely selfish on the part of the government, and did not reflect the oppinions of ordinary Canadians. Because Canada voted no, the bill could not be passed. Because Canada voted no, people will die.

I think this is an extreme example of World Suck.
What do you think? Are you as horrified as I am?

[Polly]

I live in Canada as well, and I completely agree with you.
Water should be a human right.
There are places *cough* Las Vegas *cough* who can start to abuse that *right* but it's hard to imagine my own life with out hot showers and fresh drinking water, let alone the fact that there are so many people out there living with out all that.

But ultimately, yes. I'm just as horrified as you. We have more than enough water, and we should be sharing it, not increasing World Suck.

[MisterShadow]

We have more than enough water

No, the world does not have enough clean drinkable water. That is the problem. Now, while this article is right at about 10 years old... the problem hasn't changed that much.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/01/03/millennium.water/

Desalination of sea water is an expensive process. If we don't desalinate that water and try to drink it, we will die of dehydration.

[Polly]

no I mean Canada has more than enough fresh water for the population of Canada. sorry if that wasn't clear.

[MisterShadow]

Oookay, that makes more sense, but it's kind of irrelevant. When talking about the United Nations voting on whether or not water should be a basic human right, Canada was voting for it being a right with the United Nations, not just Canada. Canada would be depleting a lot of your water, for other nations that won't even last your lifetime until Canada would start running out (at current consumption and desalination rates, assuming you don't meet an untimely death). Unless we start making desalination of water more affordable and more of a priority, I honestly think that the next World War will be over drinkable water.

[Josh Newman]

Data please?

[Geekyforscience]

I think that in the future, wars will be over water, too. There are places in the world that don't have enough water for everybody, so one half of the city gets water one day, and the other half gets water the next day and they alternate.

I think Jordan is one of those places, but I could be mistaken. I know it's somewhere in that area. I read about it in the book "Blue gold", and my environmental science teacher in college also went there and he told us about it.

[Geekyforscience]

Actually, some areas in Canada are starting to run low on clean drinking water because they've started to take groundwater and it can't be replenished as fast as they're taking it. (Groundwater moves very slowly. It's measured in feet or meters per year).

A really good book on it is "Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water".

[Frances]

I think that by "we" she means Canada, not the world.

[MisterShadow]

Maybe so, but the UN wasn't voting on solely the rights of Canadians.

[LEe!]

i think water is a right that can be easily abused. obviously, there is a limited amount of resources to go around, and we all can't have as much water as we want.

a good way to solve this problem is to get rid of all the people; the unfortunately thing is that what is practical in this instance may not be entirely ethical.

i remember seeing a powerpoint about the water crisis in africa. first few photos showed this naked african, whose skin was so dry he looked like a ghost, bathing in the urine of a waterbuffalo. the next photo showed him DRINKING the urine.

in this case, water should be a right.

but as Polly said, some places may abuse this right, especially desert downs whose entire existence is based of off human greed and has to consistently import resources to maintain itself.

[Geekyforscience]

People in North America use more water than anywhere else on the planet, and that needs to stop. A lot of it is for food production (because North Americans eat so much meat), but a lot of it is also used in the home - flushing toilets, showering, watering lawns, washing cars, filling pools, etc.

People in North America need to learn how to conserve water. Now is the time, while we still have it to conserve.

[MisterShadow]

I'd say that water is a right when we have the resources to provide it as a right. We don't have the resources. We can't give everyone water that needs it. People waste water, and that needs to be taken care of. However, at the rate of consumption we're going at... even at the rate of consumption for good health of the entire population of the world.. we're going to run out of water that we can drink very quickly. More water purification plants need to be created to meet the needs of the people. Until that happens, I can't say that I think it is a right.