One in four people in Latin America and the Caribbean does not have access to continuous, potable water. This is equivalent to 163 million people, a figure that is more than the entire population of a country like Mexico, and which includes more than 36 million people in the region who do not have access to water in their homes.
This forces them to receive water from tank cars (which is not always drinkable), or to carry it in drums from streams, springs or shallow wells (a task that generally falls on women, girls and boys).
According to the Corporate Vice President of Strategic Programming of the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), Christian Asinelli, from a territorial perspective there are two large segments that lack safe water: peri-urban areas and rural territories.
It is estimated that around 100 million people live in informal neighborhoods, favelas, or settlements. The number is similar to that of the urban population that does not have access to safe water (106 million people). While the rest of the population (57 million) is located in rural territories.
He explained that this problem is even greater in the area of sanitation, where one in two people does not receive a safe sanitation service, either because they do not have sewerage (sewer) or because their septic chamber or latrine is not adequate and the sludge deposited is never They are collected and disposed of in environmentally safe places, such as treatment plants. Both situations contradict the United Nations declaration of the human right to water and sanitation, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the 2030 Agenda.
He also pointed out that as long as access to both services is limited, the direct effects on health will continue, with an impact on infant mortality and morbidity due to diseases associated with the lack or consumption of unsuitable water.
On the other hand, natural disasters are increasingly extreme, with longer-lasting droughts and greater numbers and intensity of floods due to recurrent rains. In the case of droughts, direct economic losses in the last 20 years have meant 28 billion dollars (EM-DAT, 2023) for the region, affecting the rural population that depends on agricultural development.
The lack of water leads to increased poverty in the countryside, malnutrition and is one of the causes of rural-urban migration.
