The United Nation's "World Water Day" was this week, and out of the reams of information coming out one thing was made abundantly clear:  Poor people around the world have the most limited access to clean, safe water, but pay the largest portions of their incomes to get it.

"Water is central to human survival, the environment and the economy," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of World Water Day.  "The basic provision of adequate water, sanitation and hygiene services at home, at school and in the workplace enables a robust economy by contributing to a healthy and productive population and workforce," he added.

But for too many, this doesn't happen.  The new study from the advocacy group WaterAid says the world's poorest pay more than half of their incomes to obtain water, while those in developed nations spend only a fraction of their incomes on it.  WaterAid says that at least 650 million people - that's about 1 in 10 people - around the globe do not have access to clean and safe water and more than 2.3 billion lack access to basic sanitation.  Even a basic water facility such as a protected well is unavailable to more than 40 percent of the population in 16 countries.

In Australia's geopolitical neighborhood, Papua New Guinea is the worst off.  The group says 60 percent of PNG's 7.3 million population doesn't have regular access to safe water.  The UN World Health Organization says 13 gallons is the minimum needed to meet basic human needs; PNG's poorest citizens shell out as much as 54 percent of their daily earnings to get it from delivery services. 

"Ultimately it boils down to the fact that the poorest people often get the least attention and investment from their governments and they have the least power to demand their rights to these services," said WaterAid's Lisa Schechtman.