## The Human Right To Water
By Barrister Elvis Ajeh

“The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses.”— General Comment 15 on the right to water. Here is what this means in effect.
• Sufficient (Quantity of Water); how much water per person/day does the human right to water guarantee as a minimum? General Comment No. 15 indicates that there should be sufficient water for drinking, food preparation, and personal and household hygiene. These uses will require 20liters per person per day basic level.
• Safe and Acceptable (quality of Water); Water must be safe for drinking and other household uses i.e. free from health hazards such as microorganisms, chemical substances, and radiological hazards.. It must also be acceptable in terms of colour, taste and odour so that individuals will choose this water.
•Accessible and Affordable; everyone must have safe and easy access to adequate facilities and services in order that clean drinking-water is secured and useable and at an affordable cost. What is considered “affordable” in relation to a person’s income? No household should spend more than 3% of its income to meet its water and sanitation needs (UN Human Development Report 2006).
Misconceptions About The Right To Water.
First misconception: that water and water and sanitation services must be provided free to all users.
Second misconception: The human rights to water and sanitation prohibit private sector participation.
Third misconception: The human rights to water and sanitation mean that everyone is entitled to a tap and flush toilet tomorrow.
Forth misconception: That every dwelling must be served by a direct connection to water distribution and sewerage systems even where this is not financially feasible.
Human Rights Based Water Management System
The human rights based approach aims to ensure that all development activities further the realization of human rights, which involves strengthening the capacity of rights-holders and duty-bearers.
The rights-based approach is aimed at facilitating a process whereby the citizen is empowered to hold the state accountable to honour their human rights and legal entitlements. Adopting a rights-based approach, therefore, involves not only focusing on the content, but also on the process through which these rights are realised.
Three Components;
According to SDC’s human rights policy, a human rights based approach includes three key elements:
1. Use the standards of the international human rights framework as a reference;
2. Integrate key human rights principles, namely nondiscrimination and equality, inclusive participation, accountability and the rule of law, universality and indivisibility into strategies, programmes and policies;
3. Empower right-holders to claim their rights and strengthen capacities of duty-bearers to meet their obligations.
Focus is on identifying certain essential and basic needs of people such as food, health livelihood, - and water, not just as needs but as rights, and working towards their realization. These rights belong to a person, not by virtue of his/her social acceptability/contribution, citizenship, gender, age or any other criterion, but purely by virtue of being a human being.
Empower rights holders;
Support users in invoking their rights and make an active contribution towards their fulfilment, in particular by promoting:
Active participation and ownership of water users in the selection, design and implementation of water and sanitation projects, including providing the option of community management of development projects and services where appropriate;
Focus on women and poor, disadvantaged and marginalized groups in water and sanitation projects and programmes;
Building on and strengthening traditional water management systems where possible, so as to strengthen community participation.
TOWARD GREATER REALISATION OF THE RIGHT TO WATER
Human Rights Approach; The Solution
The human right to water sees users as citizens and not as passive recipients, empowering them to genuinely participate in decision-making processes.
The human rights based approach to water calls for the prioritisation of access to basic water and sanitation services for all, using available resources in a pro-poor manner,
The human rights approach helps to identify situations of discrimination or neglect of marginalised groups, and build the political will to change it.
Sustainability Community Involvement and ownership.
Contribution to the cost.
Continues education.
Monitoring and Evaluation and feedback.
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