The Cost of Water Access

The claim that one-third of annual global spending on bottled water could fund water access for everyone cannot be stated as a current fact without defining the year, spending category, and service level. For scale, UNESCO estimated that universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation in 140 low- and middle-income countries would cost about US$114 billion per year. That estimate covers water and sanitation together; it is not a direct comparison with bottled-water sales.