Access to safe drinking-water has been envisaged as a Human Right but in 2017 only 71% of the world's population had access to potable water. Some 785 million people still lack even basic drinking-water, including 144 million people who are dependenton surface water, and the figure is forecast to double in just 10 years. Africa remains far behind other parts of the world with only 44% of the rural population having safe water. Globally unsafe drinking-water contributes to almost one million deaths,including over 470,000 deaths of children aged under 5 years, from diarrhoea. But even in wealthy countries, cities such as San Diego and Tucson have no water and have to pipe it all in or acquire it from an external source. Reflecting this untenable situation.
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