Country: United Mexican States
Committee: Environmental (ECOSOC)
Topic: Access to Water
Delegate: Anthony Moncman
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy
Across the globe, access to usable drinking water has afflicted countries, particularly underdeveloped nations, to the point of utter madness. The United Mexican States are of no exception to this painful calamity. The United Mexican States’ access to water is currently limited, having been recognized by experts from the United Nations for its need to improve the quality and access to clean drinking water. The United Mexican States ranked 91st on the global index of improved water sources per a 2015 statistic.Improved water sources are referred to as piped water on a premises or in the public, or other forms of achieving cleaner water. Over the last 30 years, Mexico has improved significantly from the approximately 80 percent of the population using improved water sources to over 96 percent of the population using improved water sources. However, this may be misleading as many Mexican citizens do not have access to clean water. In Mexico City, roughly a fifth of the population has limited access to clean water, often times it is necessary to use water trucks to supply neighborhoods with proper materials.
As the crisis has been improving at an alarmingly meek rate, the search for solutions to this problem, both nationally and internationally, has been optimistic. More effective waste treatment facilities have begun to be implemented throughout the country, namely in the most plagued regions of Mexico City and other major establishments within the nation. The Atotonilco wastewater treatment plant is the largest wastewater treatment facility in the world, located in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico, to the northwest of Mexico’s capitol. It has complied with all water standard requirements and has generated 31.5m3/s of renewed water to the Mexico Valley. It is capable of bearing the wastewater from all of the residents of Mexico City; Atotonilco has provided fresh and renewed water for the purposes of farming, irrigation, and personal use for the residents of Mexico City. In addition to compiling water from more effective wastewater treatment facilities, it has become increasingly common to utilize rain water for household use. Under the current administration the goal set by the government was to use 200mn pesos (US$10.4mn) to install nearly 100,000 rainwater harvesting systems (SCALLs) in Mexico City. This has been thus far successful, as seen first hand by many citizens of the nation. As a temporary aid for water shortages in certain villages, many trucks hauling water for household use have been provided for certain districts in cities.
The United Mexican States encourages the United Nations to take a similar approach to the water shortage in many other nations. There are several NGO’s that would be able to aid financially with these projects that could be difficult for developing nations. One such NGO is Pure Water for the World, which generally focuses on nations in the Caribbean and Central America. Despite this specific non-profit working for such a small range of nations, there are several that target different regions in the world. Through placing emphasis on long-term solutions to the problem at hand, as well as solutions that aid citizens on a day-to-day basis, the United Nations have the capability and responsibility to make access to water a reality for every person in the world.
- Anthony Moncman
