The right to water has been recognised by the United Nations (UN). General Comment (GC) No. 15 is the first official UN document that fleshes out in detail the content of the right to water. It clearly states that the right to water emanates from and is indispensable for an adequate standard of living as it is one of the most fundamental conditions for survival.

"The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses. An adequate amount of safe water is necessary to prevent death from dehydration, reduce the risk of water realated disease and provide for consumption, cooking, personal and domestic hygienic requirements."

Sufficient: An adequate quantity must be available in accordance with international guidelines. This ordinarily means 40-50 litres per day and an absolute minimum of 20 litres.

Safe and acceptable: Water must be safe for each use. Water for drinking must meet a very high standard. Water should be of an acceptable colour, odour and taste.

Physically accessible: Water must be within safe physical reach, either within the house or near the household.

Affordable: Water should be affordable and must not affect a person's ability to buy other essential goods.

Due to limits of available resources, immediate realisation of this human right may be constrained. So progressive realisation of the right to water is called for.

While full realisation may take time, certain steps must be undertaken immediately. GC15 stipulates that these steps must be deliberate, concrete and targeted towards the full realisation of the right to water. Particular focus should be put on nine core obligations.

• To ensure access to the minimum essential amount of water, that is sufficient and safe for personal and domestic use to prevent disease;
• To ensure the right of access to water and water facilities and services on a non-discriminatory basis, especially for disadvantaged or marginalised groups;
• To ensure physical access to water facilities services that provide sufficient, safe and regular water, that have a sufficient number of water outlets to avoid prohibitive waiting times, and that are at a reasonable distance from the household;
• To ensure personal security is not threatened when having to physically access water;
• To ensure equitable distribution of all available water facilities and services;
• To adopt and implement a national water strategy and plan of action addressing the whole population; the strategy and plan of action should be devised, and periodically reviewed, on the basis of a participatory and transparent process; it should include methods, such as right to water indicators and benchmarks, by which progress can be closely monitored; the process by which the strategy and plan of action is devised, as well as their content, shall give particular attention to all disadvantaged or marginalised groups;
• To monitor the extent of the realisation, or the non-realisation, of the right to water;
• To adopt relatively low-cost targeted water programmes to protect vulnerable and marginalised groups;
• To take measures to prevent, treat and control diseases linked to water, in particular, ensuring access to adequate sanitation.

The human right to water also explicitly includes the right to sanitation. The GC15 states that "State parties have an obligation to progressively extend safe sanitation services, particularly to rural and deprived urban areas, taking into account the needs of women and children".

The UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Human Rights has provided further guidance on the right to sanitation. As set out in the Final Report of the Sub-Commission's Rapporteur on this topic, the human right to sanitation requires that States ensure to each person, access to safe, accessible, acceptable and affordable sanitation facilities in or near to their homes and public institutions (including educational institutions, hospitals and places of work).

It includes the following features:

• Availability: sufficient sanitation facilities;
• Quality: sanitation facilities should be designed in a manner such that they minimise health hazards, are conducive to hygiene, and are consistent with the privacy and dignity of individuals, taking into account cultural preferences of users and the special requirements of women and children;
• Accessibility, which comprises: (1) Physical accessibility--sanitation facilities should be within safe physical reach for all sections of the population, in the immediate vicinity of each household, educational institution and workplace, in a safe location; (2) Affordability (or Economic Accessibility)--sanitation facilities must be affordable; (3) Non-Discrimination--sanitation facilities and services should be accessible to all without discrimination; (4) Information accesibility--accessibility includes the right to seek, receive and impart information regarding sanitation issues.

Fulfilment of the right relies on the creation of opportunities for active community participation. In order for the right to be fulfilled, particularly in developing countries like ours with limited resources, it may be necessary to rely on low-cost sanitation systems rather than expensive sewage networks. The design and maintenance of such systems require input and active participation by communities.

The right to sanitation implicitly includes the right to hygiene education, since the transmission of disease may occur even where sufficient water and sanitation facilities exist due to unsafe behaviour. Hygiene education is also necessary in some cases in order to stimulate greater demand for sanitation facilities. Gender and age concerns are paramount in the design of sanitation facilities--one of the primary sources of insecurity for women and girls is the lack of available sanitation facilities in safe locations close to the home or in school.

Finally, the rights to water and sanitation are interdependent. The right to water, particularly the aspect of water quality, cannot be realised without adequate sanitation for all. Conversely, to ensure hygiene and adequate sanitation, each person should have access to a minimal amount of water on a regular basis. Sanitation and water supply are integrally linked, and therefore an integral part of the human right to water.

International Obligation and Solidarity Duty (by Sub Commission Special Rapporteur)

• States should refrain, and should ensure that private persons and organisations under their jurisdiction refrain from any action that would interfere with the right to water and sanitation of persons in other countries.
• Developed countries should provide, depending on available resources, sufficient financial and technical assistance to supplement the resources of developing countries, with a view to ensuring that everyone has at least basic access to water and sanitation service as quickly as possible. Each developed country should at least commit to allocate a portion of its official development assistance, proportional to its Gross National Product, to fulfil the objectives set out in the Millennium Declaration and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable Development with regurd to access to water and sanitation.
• Bilateral and multilateral assistance to the water and sanitation sector should be focused on countries unable to realise essential aspects of the right to water and sanitation for their people, provided in a manner that does not interfere with the realisation of any human right and focused on projects that can have tangible benefits for those without basic access to water and sanitation.
• International organisations, including the UN specialised agencies, trade and financial institutions, and the States that are members of these organisations, should ensure that the right to water and sanitation is respected in their policies and operations. States should take the right to water and sanitation into account in formulating and implementing international agreements.

Although national and local governments are responsible for developing water and sanitation systems, international solidarity actions should support and add to these initiatives. International solidarity is particularly important for the poor countries like Bangladesh.

Md Saiful Haque is a member of International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ)