This presentation, part of a World Health Organization and the Association des Medecins du canton de Geneve (WHO-AMG) Roundtable on “Healthy Environments for Children,” explores the issues of health and pollutants that are present in the home -- in particular, concerning water, sanitation and energy use. It presents the interventions available for the home environment, and notes that improving access to safe water and clean energy sources links to Millennium Development Goal 9 ("To Ensure Environmental Sustainability") and Goal 4 ("To Reduce Child Mortality").

Water is essential for survival, yet the majority of the urban poor population in Mexico lives without access to water services. Lack of water has become a source of conflicts in poor urban areas. This paper analyzes the social tensions and disputes that arise in the cities in Mexico as a consequence of the urbanization of poverty, and more specifically, the conflicts over water in poor areas or squatter settlements.

The paper discusses water conflicts according to two dimensions:

This paper, prepared for the Regional Workshop on Financing Community Water Supply and Sanitation in November 1999, claims that one of the problems in the water supply and sanitation sector is the tendency to work in isolation both from other sectors and from the broad economic, political and social realities of the countries worked in.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reflect the commitment of the world community to work together and reduce global poverty. MDG Target 10 calls for the world to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

This 2006 publication discusses the progress and prospects in Water Supply and Sanitation coverage in project areas, the costs of meeting Target 10, and what should be done next to meet the challenges faced by Target
10.

This paper argues the case for investing in water and sanitation, reporting that every dollar spent on water supply, sanitation and water resources management has strong potential for a solid return. Investments in water can be an engine for accelerated economic growth, sustainable development, improved health and reduced poverty.

To support the assertion, "Five Facts" about the water and sanitation's investment and economic gains are included.

This report, prepared by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), provides coverage data for 1990 and 2002 at national, regional and global levels and an analysis of trends towards 2015. It also marks a new cycle of more frequent reporting, which can be effectively used for sector capacity-building efforts at the national and sub-national levels.

Although awareness about the environment has increased since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, integrating the required policies in water resource planning remains difficult.

Water is a necessity for basic living, the production of energy, tourism, agriculture, forestry and conservation. Managing our water supply in an environmentally friendly way is linked with the alleviation of poverty and measures should be taken not to allow further degradation of this resource.

Providing clean water and toilets in developing nations is the quickest way to eradicate poverty and improve health worldwide, a study by the U.N. University said on Sunday.

Installing drinking water and sanitation would pay for itself by saving cash spent on treating diseases, would raise productivity lost to illness and create jobs, it said.

This report by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) sets out to clarify the fundamental and urgent need for environmentally sustainable strategies for goal fulfillment, not only to avoid undermining long-term ability to improve the lives of the world’s poorest, but also to tap the opportunities in making the environment work for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It presents environmentally sustainable ways and means to support global, regional and national implementation to attain the Goals.

In a city where the groundwater is polluted, water is rationed, toilets are lacking, and open defecation even during winter is common, human dignity is as scarce as the water for people’s sanitation needs. So it is a good thing that residents of Erdos Municipality in the PRC are regaining their dignity little by little with the installation of new no-flush toilets. Of course, it helps that the toilets come with brand new homes.