By 2030, several billion people could lack regular access to drinking water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Currently, 1.8 billion people do not have water points at home. Water stress, exacerbated by climate change, is creating dramatic shortages, particularly on islands. This lack of water, accentuated by inadequate management, has major consequences: deterioration of public health, risk of social instability and climate migration. In Europe, 20% of the territory and 30% of the population are affected by water insecurity every year, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The water and sanitation crisis particularly affects women and girls and certain vulnerable groups, including isolated rural populations, marginalised minorities and people in precarious situations.
The 2030 Agenda includes sustainable development goals aimed at universal access to drinking water. In 2023, the United Nations Water Conference established a Water Action Programme, which aims to reconsider water as an economic lever and a global cultural heritage.
In 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted an important report on the right to food, including the right to drinking water, which is interdependent on the right to a healthy environment. The Assembly should now focus on the situation of access to water in the member States and propose measures to guarantee sustainable and equitable access to this indispensable resource.