The World Health Organisation estimates that one in four people, around 2 billion, lack clean drinking water and almost half of the world’s population, around 3.6 billion people, lack proper sanitation conditions.
According to Secretary General of the Ministry of the Environment Meelis Münt, who represented Estonia at the Water Conference held in New York, more than one billion euros has been invested in the renovation of Estonia’s water and sewerage systems in the last decade.
“The most pressing environmentally hazardous hotspots have been eliminated, but we continue to struggle with the alarming amount of nutrients entering bodies of water from the mainland,” noted Mr Münt. “Experience shows that we need to change our approach and start monitoring marine areas along with each river that discharges into the sea. This comprehensive source-to-sea approach will allow us to better understand where the pollution is actually coming from, as well as where and how to most efficiently reduce the pollution of marine waters.”
The UN Water Conference called on countries to deliver on past promises in order to achieve universal access to compliant potable water and sanitation and hygiene conditions by 2030.
