Thirsting for Justice: why clean water is still a luxury for millions

Imagine two kids carrying jerry cans heavier than their bodies for kilometers in the blazing sun, while a luxurious hotel with lush gardens and water fountains is located just over the hill. This is our contemporary world's paradox.

Nearly 2 billion people still do not have access to clean drinking water, despite tremendous economic and technological progress (UNICEF, 2020). This contradiction reveals a serious breakdown in global priorities and justice.

In addition to being necessary for survival, water is also vital for human dignity, gender equality, health, and education. The United Nations proclaimed access to sanitary facilities and clean water to be a fundamental human right in 2010.

However, billions of people still lack access to water, making it a privileged good rather than a right. This article examines how systemic neglect still affects the most marginalized groups.

Rethinking water as a right rather than a luxury, political will, and community empowerment are all necessary for water justice.

The Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) recognizes both clean drinking water and sanitation as universal human rights.

A significant milestone in the history of human rights was reached on July 28, 2010, when the UN General Assembly proclaimed access to clean water and sanitation to be a human right (URG, 2020).

However, there is a notable disconnect between political commitment and moral recognition, as evidenced by the uneven application of this right.

Water is necessary for human dignity as well as survival. People cannot maintain their health, hygiene, or nutrition without clean water, according to Khadam et al. (2024).

Gender equality, economic engagement, and education are all impacted by water scarcity. Availability, accessibility, affordability, safety, and acceptability are the five fundamental pillars upon which the water right is based, and none of them can be compromised.

However, Adnan et al. (2024) point out that these aspects are frequently compromised by environmental deterioration, remoteness, conflict, privatization, and inadequate infrastructure.

Pavelich (2017) goes on to caution that privatization erodes the enforcement of water rights and jeopardizes state accountability. The water right is only a theoretical one without fair governance.

Even though everyone has the water right, underprivileged groups bear the brunt of this. People in many rural areas depend on tainted and dangerous water sources.

According to Quadri et al. (2024), water arsenic levels in Sindh, Pakistan, surpass the safe threshold of 10 mg/L, putting 36% of the population at risk of arsenic poisoning. Severe water problems also exist in urban slums.

Infrastructure is strained by rapid urbanization and lax regulation, leading to pollution and unstable supply. Slum dwellers in Nairobi frequently pay more for unofficial water sources than do affluent citizens who have access to municipal systems (Sarkar, 2020).

Not even wealthy nations are exempt. According to Brown et al. (2023), the Flint water crisis in the United States illustrates how access to safe water can be jeopardized by racial and economic marginalization.

These instances show that justice, governance, and equality are more important in the global water crisis than scarcity.

Particularly affecting children under five, contaminated water fuels fatal diseases including typhoid, dysentery, and cholera, so taxing developing country healthcare systems (Shayo et al., 2023).

Sarkar (2020) emphasizes how, particularly in rural and minority areas of Africa, lack of water prolongs poverty and marginalization.

Among international treaties, these transgress the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Notwithstanding these structures, enforcement is still weak.

Heleba (2019) points out that, particularly in nations with weak legal systems, international human rights agreements sometimes lack efficient enforcement tools.

Thus, a rights-based approach to water management—centered on equality, participation, and local inclusion—is essential.

The water crisis is finally a moral critique of the neglect of human dignity by the world society.

Water justice is essentially political rather than only a technical or financial concern. Water points are sometimes built but never maintained in Sub-Saharan Africa because of corruption, mismanagement, and inadequate control (Elisabeth et al., 2017).

Poor planning and institutional flaws compromise service delivery even with resources at hand. Rising temperatures aggravate these weaknesses. Extended droughts like those in Tharparkar, Pakistan, have devastated water supplies and displaced people (Hamza et al., 2024).

Often, governments give industrial and urban growth top priority over wise water management. Privatisation complicates access even more. Private water systems in Chile distribute unequally and run with low transparency, compromising universal access and fairness (Correa-Parra et al., 2020).

The Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG-6) of the UN seeks to provide clean water and sanitation for all by 2030, but without addressing government failure, market exclusion, and climate vulnerabilities, it remains inadequate.

Achieving water justice calls for both institutional reform and openness and community empowerment.

There are promising models for attaining water justice in spite of major obstacles. Initiatives led by the community have succeeded where centralized systems have failed.

To provide clean water to more than 28 million marginalized people, NGOs like WaterAid have paired strategic infrastructure investments with grassroots participation (WaterAid, 2022). Additionally, technological advancements give hope.

Rainwater collection and solar-powered purification systems are becoming popular, low-cost, environmentally friendly options in off-grid communities (Anjimoon et al., 2024). Under SDG-6, international cooperation has raised financing and awareness of clean water initiatives (World Bank, 2021).

However, Rasool et al. (2024) emphasize that whether or not these programs are community-empowering and localized, as opposed to being imposed from the top down, will determine their success. Integrating inclusive governance, climate resilience, and transparency into national and international water policies is necessary to scale these achievements.

Systemic neglect, bad governance, and misaligned priorities prevent billions of people from having access to clean water. The world has not lived up to the 2010 UN recognition of water as a human right. Clean water must be regarded as an inalienable right to guarantee equality, dignity, and health.

Local communities must be empowered, corporate interests must be controlled, and governments must be held responsible.

People everywhere must back grassroots initiatives, insist on moral behavior, and demand open leadership. Collective resolve is necessary for water justice, not abundance.