“The gap between the available sources and the increasing consumption of water is rapidly widening,” Adnan Khalil Basha warned. He referred to the world figures that said the consumption of water had increased six times during the past decades. According to the figures, one in five people in the world do not have easy access to clean water.

Basha made the statement on the occasion of World Water Day 2012, to be observed by the UN tomorrow.

“Easy access to water is a basic human right. Water is not only of vital importance to man, but also to animals, agriculture, health, sanitation, cooking and others,” he said.

The secretary-general warned of the grave consequences of the unavailability of clean water and said about 3.5 million people die annually because of unhygienic water, which causes a number of diseases including cholera, typhoid and dysentery.

Basha asked the Global Water Summit, to be held in Rome on April 30-May 1, to adopt stern and committing resolutions to increase the water resources and to make it available for all people, especially the poor and needy all over the world who do not have easy access to clean water. The secretary-general pointed out that despite its meager resources, IIROSA was able to provide clean water to millions of poor and needy people around the world. “IIRO was able to turn the arid land into green fields through the wells it had dug in various parts of the world, thus rescuing millions of people from the pangs of thirst and hunger,” he said.

Basha lauded the generous support being extended to the organization by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Crown Prince Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, and the welfare-loving Saudi people, which enabled it to reach out to the poor and needy everywhere providing them with water, food, accommodation, clothing, health care and education.

So far, IIROSA has dug 6,020 artesian and surface wells in 37 countries, benefiting two million people, Basha said, adding that 1,843 of these wells were dug in Africa to the benefit of 840,000 people and 4,177 in Asia benefiting about 1.3 million people.

The secretary-general said that during the previous year alone, IIRO had dug and prepared 63 wells — four in Asia and 59 in Africa, which benefited more than 33,000 people.

Basha called for spreading awareness about rationalizing the consumption of water referring in this context to a Hadith by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to the effect that people should rationalize the use of water even if they are sitting along a running river.

“Water is the elixir of life and a basic need for all living things. As such it has to be made available and carefully used. The water resources have to be increased and protected,” he said.

Basha called for finding solutions to the problem of water shortage before it snowballs into a crisis due to the rising population, irrational use of water and high levels of pollution.