South America has 6% of the world's population yet 26% of the world's water resources

One of the origins of groundwater pollution in Latin America is seepage from improper use and disposal of heavy metals, synthetic chemicals and hazardous wastes. The quantity of such compounds reaching groundwater from waste dumps appears to be doubling every 15 years in Latin America. Aquifer depletion and salt water intrusion are also important sources of groundwater contamination.

94% of the urban population enjoys water supply coverage, compared with only 65% of the rural population. A total of 68 million people are without access to improved water supply in the region, while 116 million people (the vast majority in South America ) are without access to improved sanitation.

In Latin America, about a quarter of the total population - more than 100 million people - lives in water stressed areas, mostly in Mexico, Argentina and countries along the Western coastline of the continent.

This region has relatively high service levels but is characterized by large differences from one area to the next. Total water supply coverage is extended to approximately 87% of the population, while total sanitation coverage is slightly lower at 78%.

Large disparities are apparent between urban and rural areas, with an estimated 86% of the urban population with sanitation coverage, compared to only 52% of the rural population.

Central America and the Caribbean have experienced about 20% of the world's hydrometeorological disasters of the past decade. Although this represents just 1% of all people affected worldwide, in the past decade it nonetheless adds up to a total of 36,000 deaths, that is, one third of all deaths worldwide due to flooding.

Common waterway modifications - such as the construction of dams and irrigation channels, inter-basin connections and water transfers - can impact on the hydrology of freshwater systems, disconnect rivers from floodplains and wetlands, and decrease water velocity in riverine systems. This, in turn, can affect the seasonal flow and sediment transport of rivers downstream, impacting on fish migrations and changing the composition of riparian ecosystems. Exotic species often thrive at the expense of indigenous ones, leading to an unquantifiable loss in freshwater biodiversity and inland fishery resources.

As well as providing an understanding of the issues surrounding water resources, a good educational base is essential if suitable professionals capable of monitoring and managing water resources are to emerge. In the past 30 years, developing countries have made enormous strides in expanding enrollments at all levels: in 1960, fewer than half of the developing world’s children aged 6 to 11 were enrolled in primary school, compared with 79% today.

Water-related diseases such as diarrhoea and parasitic infections cost 443 million school days each year—equivalent to an entire school year for all seven-year-old children in Ethiopia—and diminish learning potential.

Parasitic infection transmitted through water and poor sanitation hinders learning potential for more than 150 million children.

The diseases and conditions of ill-health directly associated with water, sanitation and hygiene include infectious diarrhoea (which, in turn, includes cholera, salmonellosis, shigellosis, amoebiasis and a number of other protozoal and viral infections), typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, acute hepatitis A, acute hepatitis E and F, fluorosis, arsenicosis, legionellosis, methaemoglobinaemia, schistosomiasis, trachoma, intestinal helminth infections (including ascariasis, trichuriasis and hookworm infection), dracunculiasis, scabies, dengue, filariases (including lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis), malaria, Japanese encephalitis, West Nile virus infection, yellow fever and impetigo.

Trachoma (a disease related to poverty, illiteracy and unhygienic, crowded living conditions, particularly in dry dusty areas) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world, with an estimated 146 million cases, 6 million of which have caused actual blindness.

Current evidence shows that 1.7 million deaths could also be avoided each year by providing access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. The single most effective intervention is hand washing with soap, which could cut diarrhoea deaths in half.

Río Paz, Guatemala/El Salvador © UICN Mesoamérica