Lack of access to water, sanitation in urban areas contributes to disease, impacts economies, water conference hears

"How best to provide clean water and sanitation to the world's cities and their expanding slums is the overriding theme of World Water Week, which opened Monday in Stockholm," Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports (8/23).

Speaking at the conference opening, Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), said that "more than 800 million people live in slums today, and we all know that the situation in these urban areas too often leads to water related diseases such as diarrhea, malaria and cholera epidemics, having devastating effects on the livelihood of families but also severe effects on the economies of their countries," Inter Press Service writes (Deen, 8/22). "Berntell also warned that unless there is a change in policy, water demand could in a few decades outstrip supply, giving rise to further tension between rural and urban areas," DPA/M&C writes (8/23).