A lack of drinking water and adequate sanitation can jeopardize the lives of 1.7 million people a year and 90% of them would be children. In this regard, IAEA is increasingly working with partners in order to help manage water resources in many countries throughout the world. Among other things, the IAEA supports UNEP’s Global Environmental Monitoring System/Water (GEMS/Water) programme on water quality assessment. This endeavors have recently been reported as a special feature at the IAEA website attracting many readers.
Through the programme, the recipient countries would learn to conduct laboratory inter-comparison testing to ensure accurate and precise measurement of water quality. Moreover, the importance of aquifer management was highlighted by IAEA Director General and UNEP Executive Director at the meetings with environmental partners in Vienna in early May. Accordingly IAEA decided on providing expertise for shared aquifer management projects in Africa funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by UNEP.

One of the joint projects has been implemented in North-Western Sahara in Tunisia, Algeria and Libya by IAEA and UNEP. In this project, IAEA contributes key inputs on global freshwater quality to GEMS/Water that develops and maintains a global freshwater quality information system with a series of national and international partners. As Mr. Pradeep Aggarwal, Manager of the IAEA Water Resources Programme mentioned, “Sound scientific information is vital for a country to strategically manage and protect its water supplies for long-term sustainability.”