The 22nd of March was World Water Day. Defined in 1992 by the UN, the date represents the effort of the international community to put on the agenda essential issues involving water resources.

According to the UNICEF Report published in July 2021, 1 in 4 people or 2 billion people around the world lack safe drinking water. Although much is said about expanding access to water, few are aware of the complexity involved in delivering the service. It is not simply a technological issue of making supply networks reach unserved urban and rural populations.

A primordial and decisive point to address the issue is the informal occupation of the land. According to UN-Habitat, there are more than 1 billion people living in informal settlements in cities and communities around the world. A large part of this population lives in areas where land ownership is not owned or defined. As a result, the action of public authorities and water agencies is extremely restricted.

As a consequence, this part of society lacks the right to water and provision of  basic services. Nearly half of the global population or 3.6 billion people lack safe sanitation and are concentrated in the global south. 494 million people still practice open defecation and 2.3 billion lack basic hygiene services (UNICEF data).

The connection between access to water, informality and the social function of land is clear. People who live in precarious settlements and slums have the right to remain there, as well as to have their basic rights provided, which provide a minimum of human dignity. In this sense, public actions and policies must integrate this component related to land use, recognizing its social function, so that it is possible to promote, in a concrete and efficient way,  the best use of water resources worldwide, giving due attention to the global south.