"Action needed now to provide access to clean water in developing world" - Farron

10.55.36am GMT Thu 20th Mar 2008

Local MP Tim Farron spoke of his fear for communities in the developing world during a Westminster Hall debate in the House of Commons today. Mr Farron spoke of the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations, which include aiming to halve the proportion of people who do not have access to safe water by 2015, but are currently set to miss that target by as much as 600 million people.

If current trends continue, figures from the United Nations suggest that by the year 2080 almost 2 billion people will be living in a water-scarce environment.

Mr Farron said:

"At the moment over a billion people do not have access to enough clean water to meet their basic needs. The consequences of this are vast. There are 5 billion cases of diarrhoea each year in children in developing countries and this sickness is the second biggest killer of children in those countries.

"In total 2 million people, mostly young children under five years old, die each year because they have no access to clean water. This cannot be allowed to continue."