(MENAFN- MENAFN.COM)
In Mexico City, the coronavirus pandemic has only served to emphasize the severe water gap that exists between the rich and the poor. Given that access to clean water is an essential element of practicing the hygienic measures necessary to halt the spread of the virus, the 1.3 million people in the Mexican capital who do not enjoy such a basic human right find themselves vulnerable to infection, incapacitation and even death.
Of course, insufficient water infrastructure is hardly a problem unique to Mexico. This is an issue that plagues countries throughout Latin America and beyond, with the UN estimating that some 2.2 billion people worldwide are unable to access safely-managed potable water supplies and 4.2 billion forced to make do without adequate toilet facilities. This considerable water and sanitation gap is a serious issue in the best of times, but the dangers it brings take on new proportions in the midst of a global pandemic.
Providing people in affected regions with bottled water or ferrying in supplies in tankers can serve as stopgap measures to ensure that they have access to the safe water they need. The pandemic, however, is highlighting the desperate need for long-term investment into upgraded water infrastructure to ensure that this most rudimentary and most essential resource is available to all.
A scarcity of clean water in rain-soaked Mexico City
With significantly more inches of rainfall per year than London, Mexico City should, in theory, not be short of water at all. However, the fact that the city stands 2,250m above sea level means that pumping up potable water from the Cutzamala reservoir system 120km to the Distrito Federal is an incredible feat of engineering in itself. Unfortunately, much of the mechanisms and materials involved in bringing it about are decades old and creaking under their antiquity, with the coordinator of the city’s water services admitting last year that over 40% of the supply is lost to leakages along the chain.
Those inefficiencies mean that it’s little surprise that shortages are commonplace. Government data from 2018 show that around 20% of the Mexican capital’s populace lack access to clean water, while 2015 statistics revealed that 70% of them enjoy less than 12 hours of access per diem and 18% are forced to wait for days on end for just an hour or two of supply. While Mexico City might have the largest water demand of any metropolis worldwide, the problem isn’t limited to the capital, either. It’s estimated that 5 million Mexicans in rural areas lack access to enough water to practice safe hygiene, something which has become all the more important due to the spread of a deadly infectious disease.
A quandary across Latin America
Sadly, Mexico is not alone among its regional cohorts. Latin America is rife with water deficits. Despite boasting 30% of the world’s fresh water resources and just 8% of its population, the region is still plagued by scarcity; the World Bank estimates that 36 million don’t have access to safe drinking water supplies. Why is this so, when the resource appears to be so plentiful?
One explanation is inequality; the wealthier members of society enjoy all the water they need, while the poorer have-nots simply do not. This is a question of economics. The World Bank often makes privatization a prerequisite for approving loans from such countries. Once in the driving seat, the private companies have free rein when it comes to setting tariffs and pricing the poor out of what should comprise a basic human right.
Another reason is the inefficiency of their wastewater treatment systems. It’s believed that less than 40% of the region’s wastewater is treated before being released back into rivers, lakes and streams, where it is captured and consumed all over again. Take the Riachuelo River in Argentina, for example. 368,000m3 of wastewater enter it every day, while a staggering 90,000m3 of heavy metals are discharged into its currents each year.
The problem isn’t confined to Argentina, either; at least 90% of Salvadoran rivers are contaminated with pollution, while the figure is even higher (94%) in Uruguay. It’s little wonder that 3.4 million people (mostly children under five) die from water-related disease each year, or that poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water account for 1 in 9 child deaths worldwide.
Covid-19 concerns
Clearly, water deficits and an insufficient sanitation infrastructure are pressing concerns even without the Damoclean sword of coronavirus hanging overhead, but populations who don’t have access to either are even more imperiled at the present time. That’s especially true given that some studies have raised the question of whether Covid-19 could be transmitted through wastewater in areas without the appropriate sanitation standards in place.
So far, working class residents of the most disadvantaged sectors of Mexico City, Latin America and the rest of the developing world have relied upon the purchase of bottled water or the delivery of H20 via huge tankers. The current healthcare crisis should be a wake-up call for politicians and private interests alike to devote the appropriate time, effort and, above all, monetary resources to ensure that robust drinking water and sanitation systems are standard practice the world over. Neglecting to do so can only be deemed a gross dereliction of duty that will leave millions hanging out to dry, both literally and metaphorically.
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