Johannesburg Summit Calls Clean Water a Human Right

Arlington, VA -The World Chlorine Council® (WCC) and the Global Vinyl Council (GVC) today praised delegates to the World Summit on Sustainable Development for their immediate focus on the critical and growing need to provide clean and safe water to millions, especially children, around the world.

Water-related illnesses kill 6,000 children every day (more than two million each year). Over the past 25 years, diarrheal diseases resulting from inadequate water and sanitation have killed over 54 million children - more than the total population of South Africa today, where the World Summit is being held.

Leaders of the two organizations noted that chlorinated water delivered through PVC pipes is the best way to "deliver safe water safely."

"Providing clean water delivery and treatment is one of the most important things we can do to improve children's health," said C.T. "Kip" Howlett, Jr., WCC Secretariat and Executive Director of the U.S. Chlorine Chemistry Council®. "By supplying chlorine disinfectants and PVC pipe around the world, WCC and GVC members are proud to help provide an affordable and workable solution to this critical public health problem. We are encouraged and 100 percent supportive of the Johannesburg summit's focus on the need for clean water as a basic human right."

Throughout the world, 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, and twice that many lack adequate sanitation. In developed countries, where chlorine is by far the most prevalent disinfection method, waterborne disease outbreaks are rare and the most serious conditions, such as cholera, typhoid fever, and dysentery, are virtually nonexistent. Yet in China, India and Indonesia, twice as many people die from diarrheal diseases as from HIV/AIDS.

"As the World Summit recognizes, there is a critical relationship between water and health, and a real need for cost-effective, reliable and easy-to-use materials to help ensure that people around the world have access to safe water," commented Alan Cameron, president of South Africa-based Sasol Polymers, which supplies materials that are helping provide clean drinking water systems to African communities, and Johnny Fourie of NCP Exports, a Kempton Park South Africa company that is a major supplier of chlorine disinfectants.

The World Chlorine Council and its member organizations currently sponsor a number of public-private partnerships that are helping deliver clean, safe water to people around the world who need it most:

• The World Chlorine Council and the Global Vinyl Council recently joined the $41 million public-private partnership of the U.S. Agency for International Development, World Vision, and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to provide potable water and sanitation to rural villages in Ghana, Mali and Niger, West Africa.

• The WCC supported a long-term community health and water sanitation program being carried out in the Dominican Republic by the American and Dominican Red Cross societies. WCC member companies provided disinfectants to purify the water and PVC pipe to deliver safe water to homes and communities.

• The Water Relief Network®, a partnership between the Chlorine Chemistry Council (CCC) and the American Red Cross, provides clean water and other assistance to help communities worldwide recover from natural disasters.

• In 1999, CCC and Clorosur joined in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to help improve drinking water safety in 19 nations in Latin America.

• CCC is working with "Save the Children" to assist in the construction of a system to provide a reliable, safe drinking water supply for over 2,000 people in the town of Yamaranguila, Honduras. CCC is also working with the American Red Cross to build pumps to provide clean spring water and latrines to safely dispose of waste in the Mayan villages of Cha Ki Rocja Sanaña and Sacoyou in Guatemala.

To meet goals outlined by the United Nations Millennium Summit and halve the number of people without fresh water or adequate sanitation by 2015, water treatment infrastructure must be provided for an estimated 1.6 billion people, while another 2.2 billion will require improved sanitation systems and hygiene awareness.

"The member organizations of the World Chlorine Council are proud to be a part of this effort," said Dr. Barrie S. Gilliatt, Executive Director of Euro Chlor, and another WCC member. "We are ready to move forward in turning the goals of the Johannesburg summit into real solutions to improve and protect both human health and the planet we all share."

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The World Chlorine Council® was formed in order to respond more effectively to global concerns and issues surrounding chlorine chemistry. The Council consists of national and regional chlor-alkali industry organizations, along with their member companies. (www.worldchlorine.org)

The Global Vinyl Council brings together vinyl resin industry organizations worldwide to coordinate educational, outreach and stewardship activities.