Save our resources for World Water Day!

As every year for 25 years, takes place on March 22, world day water ! This year the chosen theme is “Water: the answer is in nature”. Water is at the heart of today’s issues and is an integral part of sustainable development. From food to energy security, water contributes to improved social well-being and equitable growth.

Some key figures:

  • According to WHO / UNICEF, 1.8 billion people worldwide use a source of drinking water that is contaminated with fecal matter, exposing them to cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio .
  • Also according to the WHO, 844 million people in the world do not even have access to drinking water, and 159 million of them depend on surface water, most often brackish and stagnant.

Access to water: an imperative for some populations

In our developed countries, we are already facing the problem of access to drinking water with climate change which will make this commodity scarce, even at home, and we are not yet all aware of it. Our aging sanitation facilities mean that pierced pipes leak 1,000 billion liters of water every year. The average yield is 79.3% (= the percentage of water that arrives at its destination), or 20% of drinking water loss in France. 1 in 5 liters of drinking water is lost. This is why WeCo was created: to save drinking water while allowing the use of flush toilets, without waste, by reducing our ecological impact as much as possible.

This water resource, a wealth of which we do not take the measure, we waste it blithely. WeCo’s ambition is to put an end to this waste and to offer our products and solutions to emerging countries who cannot afford the luxury of such waste.

The Sustainable Development Goal 6 of the United Nations, which aims to guarantee everyone’s access to water and sanitation, in particular aims to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater. This year this goal is all the more important and valuable as some countries around the world are facing a total drought. This is the case of South Africa which, following successive episodes of drought and poor management of reserves, will be the victim of a total water shortage as of April 21, a day already dubbed “Day Zero”.

Initiatives for the implementation of unconnected sanitation solutions

In order to provide a solution to these issues, a think tank (project committee 305) is currently working on a new international ISO standard for non-connected sustainable sanitary systems , aiming to standardize innovative technologies in response to the problem of water in the world. This committee was set up in particular following international consultation launched by Bill & amp; Melinda Gates “ Reinvent the toilet ”, for innovative toilet proposals allowing the elimination of pathogens contained in wastewater without resorting to traditional infrastructure. A first draft was published last January. The WeCo company actively takes part in these exchanges and this is an opportunity for us to renew our commitment to international bodies and to allow the populations of developing countries to benefit from sanitary facilities that meet their needs, while by making developed countries aware of this issue which will also affect us one day or another if we do not put in place safeguards now.

For more information, please visit the website of ISO .