Clean Water

Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

In the course of 2010, the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. It is derived from the right to an adequate standard of living as stipulated in Art. 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international human rights treaties. Hence, it is part of international human rights law. A number of criteria can be used to specify the content of the right.

• AVAILABILITY: The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient and continuous water for personal and domestic uses. Likewise, a sufficient number of sanitation facilities has to be available.
• QUALITY: Water has to be safe for consumption and other personal uses, so that it presents no threat to human health. Sanitation facilities must be hygienically and technically safe to use. To ensure hygiene, access to water for cleansing and hand washing at critical times is essential.
• ACCEPTABILITY: Sanitation facilities, in particular, have to be culturally acceptable. This will often require gender-specific facilities, constructed in a way that ensures privacy and dignity.
• ACCESSIBILITY: Water and sanitation services must be accessible to everyone within, or in the immediate vicinity, of household, health and educational institution, public institutions and places and workplace. Physical security must not be threatened when accessing facilities.
• AFFORDABILITY: The price of sanitation and water services must be affordable for all without compromising the ability to pay for other essential necessities guaranteed by human rights such as food, housing and health care.

The recognition of the rights to water and sanitation is a breakthrough that ends a long lasting discussion, but it is only a first step. Now it is crucial to implement these rights and turn them into a reality for everyone. Understanding what the human rights to water and sanitation require, and do not require, is essential for avoiding misunderstandings, building broad political support for this vital subject and achieving the ultimate goal of ensuring full universal access to safe water and sanitation.

Human rights contribute to providing access to water and sanitation.Among other things, they establish a legal framework, which clearly defines rights and obligations, and promote pro-poor and non-discriminatory service provision. They decisively contribute to the empowerment of individuals by transforming them from passive recipients to active agents of change. Access to water and sanitation is no longer a matter of charity or welfare, but a legal entitlement.

UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

The mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation was first established in 2008 (initially entitled Independent Expert on the human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation). This mandate is part of a larger system of special procedures mandates, experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to study specific human rights themes or examine the situation in
specific countries. The Special Rapporteur carries out a variety of activities:

• Conducts research on various themes and presents reports on these issues to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly.
• Conducts country missions to investigate the enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation in specific contexts.
• Receives allegations of violations of the rights to water and sanitation and enters into a dialogue with Governments about these allegations.
• Advises Governments, UN agencies, civil society and other stakeholders on measures required for the realisation of the rights to water and sanitation.
• Issues public statements on situations of concern or in commemoration of particular events

United States Clean Water Act

The US Clean Water Act was enacted to restore and maintain the integrity of the United States’ waters and to regulate the sources of water pollution. (33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1376.) Pursuant to the Clean Water Act, the discharging of pollutants into the navigable waters of the United States – including filling wetlands – requires a permit.

Offenses include the unpermitted discharge of any pollutant into a waterway, discharging pollutants into a public waste water treatment facility in violation of pretreatment standards, failing to report the discharge of a reportable quantity of a hazardous substance, making false statements in required documents, and tampering with required monitoring devices.
(33 U.S.C. §§ 1319 and 1321.)

Author: international

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