The U.N. World Water Development Report, issued on the eve of the conference, says 26% of the world’s population — 2 billion people — don’t have access to safe drinking water and 46% — 3.6 billion people — lack access to basic sanitation. U.N. research also shows that almost half the world’s people will suffer severe water stress by 2030.
Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Boston’s public health commissioner, said the city will be sampling water from the sites on a weekly basis. Ojikutu said the testing will also help the city monitor for the appearance of new variants of the disease.