The human right to water and sanitation (HRWS) is a principle stating that clean drinking water and sanitation are a universal human right because of their high importance in sustaining every person's life. It was recognized as a human right by the United Nations General Assembly on 28 July 2010. The HRWS has been recognized in international law through human rights treaties, declarations and other standards. Other treaties that explicitly recognize the HRWS include the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The clearest definition of the human right to water was issued by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in General Comment 15 drafted in 2002. It was a non-binding interpretation that access to water was a condition for the enjoyment of the right to an adequate standard of living, inextricably related to the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and therefore a human right. It stated: "The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses." and also stated that "The human right to sanitation entitles everyone to have physical and affordable access to sanitation, in all spheres of life, that is safe, secure, hygienic, and socially and culturally acceptable and that provides privacy and ensures dignity".
The first resolutions about the HRWS were passed by the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council in 2010. They stated that there was a human right to sanitation connected to the human right to water, since the lack of sanitation reduces the quality of water downstream, so subsequent discussions have continued emphasizing both rights together. In July 2010, United Nations (UN) General Assembly Resolution 64/292 reasserted the human right to receive safe, affordable, and clean accessible water and sanitation services.Baer, M. 2015. From Water Wars to Water Rights: Implementing the Human Right to Water in Bolivia, Journal of Human Rights, 14:3, 353-376, During that General Assembly, it stated that for the comprehension of enjoyment in life and all human rights, safe and clean drinking water as well as sanitation is acknowledged as a human right.UN (United Nations). 2010. Resolution adopted by the general assembly. 64/292. The human right to water and sanitation. A/RES/64/292. New York: United Nations. General Assembly Resolution 64/292's assertion of a free human right of access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation raises issues regarding governmental rights to control and responsibilities for securing that water and sanitation. The United Nations Development Programme has stated that broad recognition of the significance of accessing dependable and clean water and sanitation services will promote wide expansion of the achievement of a healthy and fulfilling life.World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF). 2011. Drinking water: Equity, Satefy and sustainability. New York: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water and Sanitation.World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF). 2012. Progress on drinking water and sanitation. 2012 update. New York: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. A revised UN resolution in 2015 highlighted that the two rights were separate but equal.
The HRWS obliges governments to ensure that people can enjoy quality, available, acceptable, accessible, and affordable water and sanitation. Affordability of water considers the extent to which the cost of water becomes inhibitive such that it requires one to sacrifice access to other essential goods and services. Generally, a rule of thumb for the affordability of water is that it should not surpass 3–5% of households' income. Accessibility of water considers the time taken, convenience in reaching the source and risks involved while getting to the source of water. Water must be accessible to every citizen, meaning that water should not be further than 1,000 meters or 3,280 feet and must be within 30 minutes. Availability of water considers whether the supply of water is available in adequate amounts, reliable and sustainable. Quality of water considers whether water is safe for consumption, including for drinking or other activities. For acceptability of water, it must not have any odor and should not consist of any color.
The ICESCR requires signatory countries to progressively achieve and respect all human rights, including those of water and sanitation. They should work quickly and efficiently to increase access and improve service.
International context The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation reported that 663 million people lacked access to improved sources of drinking water and more than 2.4 billion people lacked access to basic sanitation services in 2015. ,2015 report of the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation Access to clean water is a major problem for many parts of the world. Acceptable sources include "household connections, public standpipes, boreholes, protected dug wells, protected springs and rainwater collections".General Assembly Declares Access to Clean Water and Sanitation Is a Human Right." UN News Center. 28 July 2010. Accessed 20 March 2014. Although 9 percent of the global population lacks access to water, there are "regions particularly delayed, such as Sub-Saharan Africa". The UN further emphasizes that "about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases".Global Issues at the United Nations." UN News Center. n.d. Accessed 20 March 2014. In 2022, over 2 billion people, 25% of the world's population, lacked consistent access to clean drinking water. 4.2 billion lacked access to safe sanitation services. By 2024, new estimates are much higher, with 4.4 billion people in low- and middle-income countries lacking access to safe household drinking water.
Legal foundations and recognition The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966 codified the economic, social, and cultural rights found within the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948. Neither of these early documents explicitly recognized human rights to water and sanitation. Several later international human rights conventions, however, had provisions that explicitly recognized rights to water and sanitation. The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has Article 14.2 that states that "parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural development and, in particular shall ensure to women the right: ... (h) To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and communications." The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has Article 24 that provides that "parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health ... 2. States parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures... (c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia... the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water..."The full text of the Convention on the rights of the child is available at: . The 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has Article 28(2)(a) that requires that "parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to social protection and to the enjoyment of that right without discrimination on the basis of disability, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right, including measures to ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to clean water services, and to ensure access to appropriate and affordable services, devices and other assistance for disability-related needs."
"The International Bill of Human Rights"- which comprises the 1966: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); 1966: Articles 11 and 12 of the 1966 International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Right (ICERS); and 1948: Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) documented the evolution of human right to water and sanitation and other water-associated rights to be recognised in worldwide decree.Gupta, J., Ahlers, R., and Ahmed, L. 2010. The human right to water: Moving towards consensus in a fragmented world. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law, 19(3), 294–305
Scholars also called attention to the importance of possible UN recognition of human rights to water and sanitation at the end of the twentieth century. Two early efforts to define the human right to water came from law professor Stephen McCaffrey of the University of the Pacific in 1992, McCaffrey, S.C. "A Human Right to Water: Domestic and International Implications" (1992) V Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, Issue 1, pp.1-24. and Dr. Peter Gleick in 1999., Gleick, P.H. "The Human Right to Water" (1999) Water Policy, Vol. 1, Issue 5, pp. 487-503. McCaffrey stated that "Such a right could be envisaged as part and parcel of the right to food or sustenance, the right to health, or most fundamentally, the right to life. Gleick added: "that access to a basic water requirement is a fundamental human right implicitly and explicitly supported by international law, declarations, and State practice."
The UN Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) overseeing ICESCR compliance came to similar conclusions as these scholars with General Comment 15 in 2002. It was found that, the right to water was an implicitly part of the right to an adequate standard of living and related to the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the rights to adequate housing and adequate food. It defines that "The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses. An adequate amount of safe water is necessary to prevent death from dehydration, to reduce the risk of water-related disease and to provide for consumption, cooking, personal and domestic hygienic requirements." Several countries agreed and formally acknowledged the right to water to be part of their treaty obligations under the ICESCR (e.g., Germany; United Kingdom; Netherlands) after publication of General Comment 15.
A further step was taken in 2005 by the former UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights which issued guidelines to assist governments to achieve and respect the human right to water and sanitation. These guidelines led the UN Human Rights Council to assign Catarina de Albuquerque as an independent expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation in 2008. She wrote a detailed report in 2009 that outlined human rights obligations to sanitation, and the CESCR responded by stating that sanitation should be recognized by all states.