Brussels, 02/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - World Water Week, arranged by the Stockolm International Water Institute (SIWI), kicked off on Monday 2 September in the Swedish capital with an alarming observation: although the millennium development goal concerning water (WDG 7) - to halve the number of people in the world with no access to drinking water and sanitation by 2015 - has been achieved, there are still 768 million people with no access to water, 2.5 million people without access to satisfactory sanitation facilities and, if things continue at this pace, only 67% will have these facilities by 2015 - a figure well below the targeted objective of 75%.
The European Commission took this opportunity to point out that, between 2004 and 2012, the EU has provided more than 70 million people with access to drinking water and improved access to basic sanitation facilities for more than 24 million people in the developing countries. In order to get things moving even faster, the EU has earmarked €1.919 billion to improve access to water and sanitation for 2008-2013, including €267 million for projects in 19 countries of the ACP group. World Water Week is held in cooperation with the Global Water Partnership, WWF and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD). (AN/transl.fl)