To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the progress towards halving by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. [98269]
Nearly two thirds of the world's population will be living in countries of significant water stress by the year 2025. 1.2 billion people currently lack access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation.The percentage of people served with some form of improved water supply rose from 77 per cent. in 1990 to 82 per cent. in 2000. The greatest gain in improved water coverage was in South-central Asia, from 72 per cent. to 85 per cent. The percentage of people with access to basic sanitation increased from 51 per cent. to 61 per cent. in the same period. Much work, however, has yet to be done. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 58 per cent. of the population has access to improved water sources. The 2002 UN Human Development Report has indicated that nearly 25 countries, the majority in Sub-Sahara Africa, are lagging or are far behind in respect to meeting the MDG for water, with another 75 countries lacking data to effectively assess their progress. But all of the goals remain achievable if developing countries and the international community have the determination to ratchet up their efforts.My Department is providing substantive financial support and technical assistance to initiatives that support the assessment of access to improved water supplies and sanitation, including the United Nation's Joint Monitoring Programme which provides the UN reference at both global, regional and country levels and the World Water Assessment Programme, a collective and consolidated UN system-wide assessment and reporting facility which provides analysis and data on the state of global freshwater and status review of the attainment of the water and sanitation targets.To promote sustainable access to safe drinking water, my Department's activities at the international and national levels are looking to address the issues of political will, institutional capacity to provide and maintain services, scaling up initiatives to increase coverage, and long term sustainability incorporating cost-recovery and maintenance.