UN affirms right to "safe and clean drinking water"

Posted: 04.08.10  |  Created by: Do Something

Last week, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to affirm "the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights." After a decade of grassroots lobbying and organising, this is a significant achievement for the global water justice movement.

Here in Australia we are lucky enough to enjoy some of the highest quality water virtually for free from our taps, yet as a nation we spend half a billion dollars a year on buying bottled water. With only 36% of PET bottles being recycled in Australia, there are hundreds of millions of plastic bottles ending up as landfill or litter every year.

This is a strange situation when you consider the cheaper alternative where we could all use refillable bottles and refill with tap water each day. The environmental and financial savings are significant. That's why it is great to see the progress that some councils and schools are making in providing brand new water bubblers and refill stations. This change has been a long time coming, but it's good to see more water bubblers in public spaces where people can access high quality drinking water free of charge.

To find out more about the water stations and reusable bottle refill posts that helped Bundanoon and Monte to ban the bottle, call Street Furniture Australia on 1800 027 799.