Former Japanese leader makes appeal to ease Afghan water shortage
U.S. Water News Online
TOKYO -- Afghanistan faces a water crisis as drought continues in the south and winter sets in the north, and aid is needed to avert a humanitarian disaster, an influential Japanese politician said.
Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who will chair the Third World Water Forum that Japan hosts in 2003, said that the international community is not paying enough attention to how an adequate supply of safe water will be crucial to the future of Afghanistan.
``Right now water aid is not in the consciousness of the public and of most government officials,'' said Hashimoto. ``But we must do this.''
Hashimoto said that Japan can help ease water shortages in a post-conflict Afghanistan by providing water purifiers, technological assistance to drill wells, and by transporting water to areas in need.
He said that the World Water Council, which is organizing the 2003 gathering on water issues, plans to send five experts to Afghanistan to gauge the extent of its water crisis.
Experts on water issues who met this month in Egypt are drawing up proposals to help Afghanistan, Hashimoto said, adding that he intends to lobby the Japanese government to contribute to those efforts.
Hashimoto said he also hopes to persuade Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration to include water aid in the duties of Japanese troops dispatched to help in the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition.
Scientists are increasingly worried that overuse and pollution of water resources are putting millions of people at risk worldwide.
The World Water Forum in Kyoto, which is expected to attract some 8,000 researchers and government officials, was organized to address those issues.
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