CLEAN WATER CHANGE LIFE

Clean Water Change Life



Clean Water Change Life

Introduction

Most of us don't think much about water. We don't need to. We have an ample supply of it flowing from our faucets. And if you don't like the taste of it from the tap, there's a wide selection of bottled water available at the local store. It's plentiful, inexpensive and of course safe - just as it should be. It's easy to forget that a large chunk of the world's population (currently 6.77 billion) isn't so lucky. An estimated 1.1 billion people don't have access to safe drinking water, and more than twice as many live with inadequate sanitation. While the consequence is predictable, the numbers are staggering (Adler, Robert W, 1993): lack of clean drinking water causes more than 2 million deaths each year, 90% of which are children under the age of five. The microbial culprits are well-known, and the infections they cause are for the most part both preventable and treatable. Yet they strike again and again. Case in point: as of April 16, the cholera outbreak that hit Zimbabwe last August had officially infected 96,591 and killed 4201, making it the largest African outbreak in 15 years.

Analysis

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses. 90% of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are to children under five years old. Many of these diseases are preventable. The UN predicts that one tenth of the global disease burden can be prevented simply by improving water supply and sanitation (Adler, Robert W, 1993).

Clean water changes lives. ...