Why Water
There are many urgent and important issues that face our world today but we believe that providing clean and safe water is the first step to breaking the cycle of extreme poverty.
These are the 5 areas most affected by water in the developing world:
Health
Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease in the world, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. To be exact, 3.6 million people die annually from the lack of water. Most water related deaths are caused by diarrhea and various forms of parasites including Schistosoma.
Education
272 million school days are lost every year simply because children are often spending more than 4 hours every day fetching water instead of going to school. If they have a water well in their village, they could go to school, get an education, which could lead to a better job and ultimately a brighter future.
Productivity
In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 40 billion hours of labor is wasted each year carrying water over long distances. Access to clean water is really the catalyst for other forms of development and improvement in third-world countries. Household incomes are spent on purchasing water and medical treatment for water-related diseases, preventing parents from paying for school fees for their children or even food for their families. These factors contribute to keeping people trapped in poverty.
Women
The daily carrying of water containers to and from the polluted sources, weighing over 40lbs, can also result in permanent damage to women's health such as chronic fatigue, spinal and pelvic deformities, and effects on reproductive health including spontaneous abortion. Additionally, the lack of sanitation is one of the main reasons girls drop out of school. Since 75% of schools in the developing world don’t have bathrooms, a girl is faced with humiliation as she begins her menstrual cycle. Without proper latrines, there is no privacy or dignity for her.
Children
Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 9,800 deaths that occur every day from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 84% are in children under 14 years old. Additionally, walking alone to distant sources to collect water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault.
The clean water crisis is massive, but there is a simple and inexpensive solution. Digging underground and building a well will give clean and safe drinking water for an entire village for 20 years.
