World Water Crisis

Most of us don’t often ponder the World Water Crisis or the part that it plays in the lives of nearly one billion people around the world.  For that matter, most of us probably don’t spend more than a moment considering where our next drink of water will come from.  Clean water is a resource that we often take for granted, despite the vital role it plays in our health and our economy.  Here are some staggering statistics about the World Water Crisis that we hope will motivate you to join us in our mission to get children and communities clean drinking water through our Sweet Water Wells project. 

WATER & SANITATION

Nearly 1 billion people worldwide don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water- that’s approximately 1 in every 8 people!  2.5 billion do not have improved sanitation. (UNICEF/WHO. 2008)

• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
  (2006 U.N. Human Devel. Report)
  
  
• Over 3.5 million people die each year from waterborne diseases. (WHO. 2008.)
  
  
• Over 80% of the disease in developing countries is related to poor drinking water and sanitation. (WHO)
  
  
• Diarrhea remains in the second leading cause of death among children under five globally. Nearly one in five child deaths – about 1.5 million each year – is due to diarrhea. It kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. (UNICEF/ WHO. 2009)         
   
• Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease. (2006 U.N. Human Devel. Report)
  
  
• In the developing world, 24,000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable causes like diarrhea contracted from unclean water. (UNICEF, WHO 2009)
  
  
• Millions of women and children spend several hours every day collecting water from distant, polluted sources.
  (2006 U.N. Human Devel. Report)
  
  
• The average distance a woman in Africa and Asia walks to collect water is 3.75 miles, carrying an average of 44 lbs. of water. (www.whrnet.org)
  
  
• Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection. (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council
  (WSSCC). 2008)
  
  
• Investment in drinking-water and sanitation would result in 272 million more school attendance days a year. The value of deaths averted, based on discounted future earnings, would amount to US$ 3.6 billion a year.
  (DfiD [Department for International Development] Sanitation Reference Group. 2008.)
  
  
• Investment in safe drinking water and sanitation contributes to economic growth. For each $1 invested, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates returns of $3 – $34, depending on the region and technology.
  (United Nations World Water Development Report, “Water in a Changing World” )