Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

C I T I E S : C O M P E T I N G N E E D S I N A N U R B A N E N V I R O N M E N T / 1 5 9The cities of the world are concentric, isomorphic, synchronic. Only oneexists and you are always in the same one. It’s the effect of their permanentrevolution, their intense circulation, their instantaneous magnetism.J. Baudrillard, Cool MemoriesCITIES SHARE MANY SIMILARITIES WITH NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS.They are dynamic, generating and recycling energy and waste, andresponding to the interrelated cycles of needs, uses and demands ofthe institutions and people who live their lives within an urbanenvironment. Cities are the future. The great migrations of people fromrural to urban areas all over the world are proof of their power to attractand dazzle with their promise of a better life. Yet in this chapter we learnthat half the urban population in Africa, Asia and Latin America suffers oneor more diseases associated with inadequate water and sanitation. TheWorld Health Organization (WHO) has recognized that when infrastructureand services are lacking, cities are among the planet’s most threateningenvironments. Among the urban population of low-income countries, onechild in six dies before the age of five. Gathering reliable data about waterand sanitation in cities is extremely tricky, but indications are that targetsare far from being met and enormous work remains to be done. Bettermanagement of resources in and around cities is therefore a majorchallenge the world over.