Three in Four Jobs in the Global Workforce Depend on Water, says UN on World Water Day

Geneva, 22 March 2016 - An estimated three out of four jobs that make up the global workforce are either heavily or moderately dependent on water. This means that water shortages and problems of access to water and sanitation could limit economic growth and job creation in the coming decades, according to a UN report released on World Water Day. In a separate report, released yesterday, the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) International Resource Panel found that without altering current levels of water consumption and pollution, almost half of the world's population will suffer severe water stress by 2030, damaging the well-being of millions of people. Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, said: "Reliable access to clean water is a cornerstone of sustainable development. When clean water is consistently unavailable, the world's poorest must spend much of their disposable income buying it, or a large amount of time transporting it, which limits development. "And since only half of one per cent of the world's freshwater is available for the needs of both humanity and ecosystems, we will need to do more and better with less if we are to ensure healthy ecosystems, healthy populations and economic development," he added. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said in his statement for the Day: "Almost half of all workers - 1.5 billion people - work in water-related sectors, and nearly all jobs depend on the availability of freshwater. Despite its paramount importance, water as a sector generally does not receive the attention it deserves. Water is central to human survival, the environment and the economy. "All workers can be harmed by poor water and sanitation. Of 2 million work-related deaths every year, nearly one-in-five are caused by poor quality drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene." Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, said: "Water and jobs are inextricably linked on various levels, whether we look at them from an economic, environmental or social perspective. This edition of the World Water Development Report breaks new ground by addressing the pervasive relationship between water and jobs to an extent not yet seen in any other report." Director-General of the International Labour Organization and Chair of UN-Water, Guy Ryder, said: "This analysis highlights the fact that water is work - it requires workers for its safe management and at the same time it can create work and improve conditions. If the 2030 Agenda is to be a success and we are to build together a sustainable future, we must ensure that work in water is decent and that the water we all rely on is safe." From its extraction to its return to the environment, via numerous uses, water is a key factor in jobs creation. "Estimating the relationship of water with economic growth and jobs is particularly challenging," the report states, emphasizing the lack of data, particularly in regards to determining the degree of water dependency of jobs. Nevertheless, the report notes a number of studies that have found correlations between water related investments and economic growth. Investment in small-scale projects providing access to safe water and basic sanitation in Africa could offer an estimated economic return of US$ 28.4 billion a year, or nearly five per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) of the continent. Such investments also seem to have a beneficial effect on employment. In the United States, every US$ 1 million invested in the country's traditional water supply and treatment infrastructure generates between 10 and 20 additional jobs. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis found that each job created in the local water and wastewater industry creates 3.68 indirect jobs in the national economy. Another study in Latin America found that investing US$ 1 billion in expanding the water supply and sanitation network would directly result in creating 100,000 jobs.