Water

 

 

The Right to Water and Water Sanitation

 

The UN Resolution 64/292 of 2010, explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realisation of all human rights. The Resolution calls upon States and international organisations to provide financial resources, help capacity-building and technology transfer to help countries, in particular developing countries, to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all. The UN further stated  "The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights". The right to water is  " the right of everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable and physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses".

 

The UN says this means: 

 

• Sufficient. The water supply for each person must be sufficient and continuous for personal and domestic uses. These uses ordinarily include drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, personal and household hygiene. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 50 and 100 litres of water per person per day are needed to ensure that most basic needs are met and few health concerns arise.

• Safe. The water required for each personal or domestic use must be safe, therefore free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards that constitute a threat to a person's health. Measures of drinking-water safety are usually defined by national and/or local standards for drinking-water quality. The World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines for drinking-water quality provide a basis for the development of national standards that, if properly implemented, will ensure the safety of drinking-water.

• Acceptable. Water should be of an acceptable colour, odour and taste for each personal or domestic use. All water facilities and services must be culturally appropriate and sensitive to gender, lifecycle and privacy requirements.

• Physically accessible. Everyone has the right to a water and sanitation service that is physically accessible within, or in the immediate vicinity of the household, educational institution, workplace or health institution. According to WHO, the water source has to be within 1,000 metres of the home and collection time should not exceed 30 minutes.

• Affordable. Water, and water facilities and services, must be affordable for all. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) suggests that water costs should not exceed 3 per cent of household income.

 

Our Water Projects

 

Our water projects have been focused on Easter Island to some extent to protect the islands drinking water from raw sewerage issuing from pit latrines and from toxic waste coming from the islands landfill. We have:

 

 

• Hosted the head of the Chilean National Parks in Easter island to visit Australian national parks with the view to installing composting tiolets in Easter Islands National Parks. This trip was supported by Chile's CONAF, Australia's Environment Equipment, Germay's IH and Australia's PAA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Sent Rotaloo Maxi 2000 composting public toilet for installation in the UNESCO listed World Heritage National park of Rapa Nui in Easter Island. The Maxi 2000 was donated by the American Easter island Foundation; Environment Equipment donated a domestic model Rotaloo for showcasing on island for remote households; both LAN Airlines and Air Tahiti Niue sponsnored the shipment of the toilets by air to Easter Island from Australia.