Right to Water

The notion that water is plentiful and coves 70% of earth’s surface is false because
only 2.5% is present as freshwater which can be utilised by the human population.
This limited resource will have to support a population of 9.7 billion by 2050 and by
that time around 40% of the people will be living in water stressed areas [1]. 
Water is an essential component of human life. It is a key component in agriculture.
And plays a major role in sustenance of human lives and human economies. Yet,
884 million people do not have access to improved sources of
drinking water [2]. Lack of access to safe, affordable, sufficient and water, sanitation
and hygiene facilities badly affects the wellbeing, prosperity & dignity of billions of
people. While these numbers shed light on a stressing circumstance, the reality is
much worse, as millions of poor people living in informal settlements are simply
missing from national statistics. 
Evolution of Right to Water Law 
The requirement for right to water appears to have stirred because of the limited
availability of the resource and its utility in each element of human life. Making it
necessary to examine the significance of presenting legal status to right to water in
national and international domain. The lawful status of the right to water in
international law is contended to emerge from explicit and implied recognition of
rights from the existing human rights provisions available. The explicit recognition of
the right to water is evident from the recent human right treaties such as, the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women; the
Convention on the Rights of Child; and the Convention on the Water and Society  IV
Rights of Persons with Disabilities. And the implicit recognition of the right to water is
mainly argued to have its relevance from the right to life and the right to adequate
standard of living originating from International Human Rights instruments such as,
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (1966); International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights. 
 
 
 
Indian Context 
The fundamental right to water has evolved in India, not through legislative action but
through judicial interpretation. The right to water comes under the purview of right to
a healthy environment which comes under the Right to Life guaranteed under Article
21 of the Indian Constitution [3]. It is basically the interpretation by Supreme Court of
the India. This guarantees the right to clean drinking water to everyone in the
country. Courts from various legal systems have also adjudicated cases related to
the enjoyment of the right to water, covering issues such as the arbitrary and illegal
disconnections pollution of water resources or lack of access to sanitation. The
Supreme Court has been proactive with regards to the State's obligation to not  to
pollute— ordering polluters to clean up water sources and coastlines, and restitution
of the soil and ground water. The Court has additionally applied the "precautionary
principle" to forestall the possible contamination of drinking water sources during
industrial development.  
In India, even today a large part of the population with lack of accessibility to clean
drinking water. More than 226 million people lack access to safe water in our
country. India has the largest population of people in the world without access to
clean water constituting more than 19% of the world’s population [4]. 
Right to Water by United Nation 
According to United Nations, access to water and sanitation are the rights of human.
People are rights-holders & States are responsible for providing access to water and
sanitation services. Rights holders can claim their rights and duty bearers must
guarantee the rights to water and sanitation equally and without any kind of
discrimination. 
The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution (64/292) on 28th July
2010 and provided recognition to right to water and accepted that safe drinking water
and sanitation facilities are an integral part of human rights [5]. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), 50-100 litres of water is required to ensure
the well-being of a human on a daily basis [5]. Also, water source has to be within
1000 metres of the house and time required to collect the water should not be more
than 30 minutes [5]. These guidelines for drinking water are used by WHO in
determining  
 
the development of National Standards. 
The right to water entitles everyone to have access to safe, accessible, acceptable,
affordable and sufficient amount of water for personal as well as domestic use. 
Sufficient: The water supply for each person must be sufficient and continuous for
personal and domestic uses. These uses ordinarily include drinking, personal
sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, personal and household hygiene. 
Safe: The water required for each personal or domestic use must be safe, therefore
free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards that
constitute a threat to a person’s health. Measures of drinking-water safety are
usually defined by national and/or local standards for drinking-water quality. 
Acceptable: Water should be of an acceptable colour, odour and taste for each
personal or domestic use. All water facilities and services must be culturally
appropriate and sensitive to gender, lifecycle and privacy requirements. 
Physically accessible: Everyone has the right to a water and sanitation service that
is physically accessible within, or in the immediate vicinity of the household,
educational institution, workplace or health institution. 
Affordable: Water, and water facilities and services, must be affordable for all. 
The ‘human rights-based approach’ stresses the correspondence between rights and
obligations, providing a framework for Member States and other organizations that
aims to ensure that respect for human rights are integrated into development plans
at all levels 
Does the right to water require water to be provided free of charge?  
The right to water requires water services to be affordable for all and nobody to be
deprived of access because of an inability to pay. As such, the human rights
framework does not provide for a right to free water. However, in certain
circumstances, access to safe drinking water and sanitation might have to be
provided free of charge if the person or 12 household is unable to pay for it. It is a
State’s core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum
essential levels of the right, which includes access to a minimum essential quantity
of water. In order to ensure that water is affordable, States should adopt the
necessary measures that may notably include appropriate pricing policies such as
free or low-cost water