2006年VOA标准英语-UN: Water, Sanitation Crisis Killing Millions o

By Catherine Maddux
Washington
09 November 2006

watch UN Water report

A new United Nations report says a growing water and sanitation¹ crisis around the world is costing the lives of about two million children a year.  

A child fills a container with water for domestic use in Delmas, east of Johannesburg, during a cholera² outbreak in the area in Aug. 2006  
  

The report's lead author, Kevin Watkins, summed up the world's water crisis during an interview with VOA.

"The inability of governments to provide children with a glass of clean water is going to cost two million lives," Watkins said.  "Now that, to me, is a fairly powerful indictment³ of what governments are doing and what the international community is doing."

Watkins says most of these deaths are caused by diarrhea and dysentery, the result of water polluted by human waste.  

 
Kevin Watkins 
  
Watkins says the lack of access to clean water is also a powerful driver of inequality, with the wealthy, who are connected to utilities, paying the least per liter, and the poor, who buy water from local providers, paying the most. 

The United Nations Development Programme report, called "Beyond Scarcity⁴: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis," calls on governments to increase spending on water and sanitation and to make clean water a human right.  The report also urges the  international community to double its annual contributions for water and sanitation.

The study blames the current crisis on governments and the international community. 

"Many governments in the developing world simply do not take this problem seriously,"  said author of the report, Kevin Watkins.  "If you look at the state of planning in water and sanitation, it is frankly⁵ abysmal⁶ in many countries."

Watkins adds there is very little international support or aid for the water crisis. He says the issue is not on the agenda of the Group of Eight countries and, in fact, never made it onto last year's communiqué at the Gleneagles summit of the world's richest nations.

According to the report, the reason behind the world's water crisis is not, as many argue, a shortage of water.  Watkins says overpopulation and a growing demand for water are not the whole story.

"Water is a precious resource, it is a finite resource.  The problem is that governments in the world do not treat it as a precious resource and the do not treat it as a finite resource," he said. 

While the UNDP report is being welcomed by many groups concerned about the global water crisis, there is criticism.

Paul Hetherington is a spokesperson for WaterAid, a non-governmental and advocacy group in Britain.  He says part of the problem is with the United Nations itself.

"In the situation of water, you have got 23 different U.N. agencies who all work in the water [and] sanitation sphere," Hetherington said. "But not one of them has an overarching responsibility. Not one of them monitors or evaluates what is being done.  And very often, important issues are slipping under the table.  And, of course, there is no United Nations body there standing⁷ up and naming and shaming governments, donors⁸ and recipients⁹ who are not performing on water and sanitation."

Hetherington adds that every year the United Nations writes in-depth reports on different topics, leaving little room for follow up.

This year's report says the solutions to the water crisis are easy and already well known.  The UNDP's Watkins says governments need to invest in their water systems, putting grids¹⁰ and pipes in place as well as filtration systems.  To do this, the report lays out a three point plan of action.

"Part one is that governments need to make water a human right and they need to mean it," he said.  "And mean it in the sense of putting it in national legislation which provide citizens with an entitlement to 20 liters of water a day as a right of citizenship¹¹.  Secondly¹², we call on governments to spend at least one percent of GDP on water and sanitation.  If you compare this with military expenditure¹³, countries like India, Pakistan, Ethiopia are spending 10 to 15 times more on military hardware than they are spending on water and sanitation."

Finally, Watkins' report says increased international aid is crucial to reach the Millennium¹⁴ Development Goal of halving¹⁵ the number of people without water and sanitation by the year 2015.

To accomplish all this, the report is calling for a global action plan under the leadership of the Group of Eight countries to mobilize resources and development for water and sanitation projects similar to the global fund for HIV and AIDS.

1 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

2 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

3 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

4 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 abysmal   

adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的

参考例句：

• The film was so abysmal that I fell asleep.电影太糟糕，看得我睡着了。
• There is a historic explanation for the abysmal state of Chinese cuisine in the United States.中餐在美国的糟糕状态可以从历史上找原因。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 grids   

n.格子( grid的名词复数 )；地图上的坐标方格；（输电线路、天然气管道等的）系统网络；（汽车比赛）赛车起跑线

参考例句：

• Typical framed structures are beams, grids, plane and space frames or trusses. 典型构架结构为梁、格栅、平面的和空间的框架或桁架。 来自辞典例句
• The machines deliver trimmed grids for use or stock. 这种机器铸出修整过的板栅，以供使用或储存。 来自辞典例句

11 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

12 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

13 expenditure   

n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗

参考例句：

• The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
• The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。

14 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

15 halving   

n.对分，二等分，减半[航空、航海]等分v.把…分成两半( halve的现在分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• You searched those halving your salary cut your enthusiasm. 你呈现，薪水减半降低了你的任务热情。 来自互联网
• Halving the repeater spacing made it possible to quadruple the bandwidth. 把增音机间隔缩小一半，就能使带宽增加三倍。 来自互联网