Water has always been crucial to human societies and attempts to treat it and provide a healthy and usable resource go back to ancient Greek and Roman times.

Today’s society is characterized by being dynamic and fast-paced and the more we move towards the future, the more goods and resources we consume. Since water is present in the lifecycle of any products we consume, our footprint is growing bigger every year.

Small in size, densely populated and very urbanized, Belgium is a country with a high level of water usage that impacts on the water supplies of other countries when water used to produce imported goods is taken into account. This short article takes a look at how much water Belgium consumes compared to other nations, where that water goes and what can be done to reduce water use in Belgium.

Today is the World Day of Social Justice, where the ongoing need to tackle poverty, inequality and exclusion is recognized. Global inequalities regarding access to clean water supplies is something that doesn’t always receive the same coverage as other inequalities but they still persist. Universal access to clean water and sanitation is number 6 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030. In this article, we take a brief look at the challenges to overcome.