Unicef says 1 in 10 households receives water only once a week

As part of the World Water Day commemoration, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlighted the importance of managing water sustainably to ensure that future generations have access to this essential resource for life.

In 2025, all attention will be focused on the conservation of glaciers, which are fundamental to water supply across the planet. Glaciers have been melting at an accelerated rate due to global warming, which threatens not only the availability of drinking water for millions of people but also the balance of ecosystems and sea levels.

In the Dominican Republic, an island country especially vulnerable to climate change, this crisis has direct implications. The rise in sea level causes the loss of territory and the salinization of aquifers, putting at risk the lives and health of the population, especially children, adolescents, and pregnant women.

According to the ENHOGAR-2022 Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (ONE), 7 out of 10 households in the country receive piped water. However, regular access remains challenging, as half of the households receive water from public distribution systems between one and three days a week, while 1 in 10 households receive it only once a week. These data show the need to improve the country’s water infrastructure and management.

Carlos Carrera, UNICEF representative in the Dominican Republic, stressed the importance of this problem: “Access to drinking water is essential for the life and health of the population. We can all contribute to the solution through small daily actions and by supporting conservation initiatives”.

Carrera added that children’s and adolescents’ participation in environmental activities can turn them into agents of change for a more sustainable future and that schools and communities play a key role in environmental education through recycling, reforestation, and efficient water use programs.

It is also imperative that the government implement adaptation and mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of climate change in coastal areas and ensure access to safe drinking water.

World Water Day, March 22 each year, invites all to reflect on sustainable water management and a momentous opportunity to act now because it is a vital natural resource for life that cannot wait.