Women in developing countries could play a major role in remedying the situation, if given the chance, she added. Jeanette A. Brown, Ph.D., spoke on the global crisis in availability of clean water and basic sanitation like toilets and sewage disposal at the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society. It was part of a symposium, “International Sustainable Development: Institutional Frameworks.” Abstracts of other presentations appear below.
“It’s a sad fact that much of the world’s population in 2012 has less access to clean water and the most basic sanitation than people living in ancient Rome,” said Brown. “About 2.6 billion people – almost 1 in 3 people in the world ― lack access to even a simple ‘improved’ latrine, or pit toilet. More people have access to a cell phone today than to a toilet.”
Brown said the lack of sanitation and clean water, especially in developing countries of sub-Sahara Africa and south Asia, claims an enormous toll in preventable illness, death and human suffering every year. She is with the University of Connecticut in Storrs, and is immediate past president of the Water Environment Federation, an international organization of water quality professionals headquartered in Alexandria, Va. Estimates indicate, for instance, that it sickens hundreds of millions of people every year, causing 1.6 million deaths from cholera and other diarrheal diseases transmitted by fecal contamination of drinking water.
The problem goes beyond the impoverished conditions that prevail in developing countries, Brown said. She explained that “archaic” cultural practices and attitudes toward women sometimes hinder progress in developing safe drinking water and basic sanitation in villages and towns in these developing nations....
Thomas Cole's "A view near Tivoli," showing a bit of ancient Roman aqueduct
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