Written by Bethany Yaffe
Environmental Engineer
Well Water Global Board of Directors
Environmental Engineer
Well Water Global Board of Directors
Photo by Michael McFadden October 23 is Imagine a Day Without Water
Let us imagine…
No water to drink
No water to flush your toilet
No water to wash your hands
No water to make your morning coffee
No water to wash your dishes
No water to take a shower
No water in your childrens' school
No water in your doctor’s office and hospital
This is the reality of 1 out of 3 people worldwide. Access to clean water and sanitation in North America is so ubiquitous that it is easy to overlook the estimated 2.2 billion people worldwide who lack access to an improved water source, and even more staggering, the 4.2 billion people (over half the global population) who lack access to improved sanitation*.
Most of the people who lack access to water and sanitation resources are located in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, but there are populations in the U.S. and South America that also are included in these statistics. Given the physical distance that separates those with access to water and sanitation to those without, we can forget why access to these basic human rights matter.
Worldwide, 297,000 children under the age of five die each year as a result of preventable diarrheal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water. Billions of people worldwide are infected with neglected tropical disease, parasitic diseases, and blindness, all of which can easily be prevented with access to a clean water source and sanitation facilities that protect the water and soil that these people depend on.
A person without access to improved drinking water** must rely on sources such as unprotected and possibly contaminated surface water and wells, often walking more than 30 minutes one way to get the water and carry the water home.
A person without access to improved sanitation must use inadequate communal latrines (where children have fallen in and drown on some occasions) or practice open defecation. Women and girls who must practice open defecation have increased chances of being abused or sexually assaulted because they often have to search for places to relieve themselves in the dark. The exposed fecal matter from open defecation can move into people’s food and water resources, spreading diseases such as cholera and contributing to disease pandemics, among other incalculable costs.
Think this is the pits? So do we. Next week Bethany will follow-up with another article about how access to clean water can change all of this. (Hint, hint: check out the picture above of the little boy drinking clean water at our most recent well in Kenya. There is hope. And you can give it.)
*Improved sanitation facilities include:
Let us imagine…
No water to drink
No water to flush your toilet
No water to wash your hands
No water to make your morning coffee
No water to wash your dishes
No water to take a shower
No water in your childrens' school
No water in your doctor’s office and hospital
This is the reality of 1 out of 3 people worldwide. Access to clean water and sanitation in North America is so ubiquitous that it is easy to overlook the estimated 2.2 billion people worldwide who lack access to an improved water source, and even more staggering, the 4.2 billion people (over half the global population) who lack access to improved sanitation*.
Most of the people who lack access to water and sanitation resources are located in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, but there are populations in the U.S. and South America that also are included in these statistics. Given the physical distance that separates those with access to water and sanitation to those without, we can forget why access to these basic human rights matter.
Worldwide, 297,000 children under the age of five die each year as a result of preventable diarrheal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water. Billions of people worldwide are infected with neglected tropical disease, parasitic diseases, and blindness, all of which can easily be prevented with access to a clean water source and sanitation facilities that protect the water and soil that these people depend on.
A person without access to improved drinking water** must rely on sources such as unprotected and possibly contaminated surface water and wells, often walking more than 30 minutes one way to get the water and carry the water home.
A person without access to improved sanitation must use inadequate communal latrines (where children have fallen in and drown on some occasions) or practice open defecation. Women and girls who must practice open defecation have increased chances of being abused or sexually assaulted because they often have to search for places to relieve themselves in the dark. The exposed fecal matter from open defecation can move into people’s food and water resources, spreading diseases such as cholera and contributing to disease pandemics, among other incalculable costs.
Think this is the pits? So do we. Next week Bethany will follow-up with another article about how access to clean water can change all of this. (Hint, hint: check out the picture above of the little boy drinking clean water at our most recent well in Kenya. There is hope. And you can give it.)
*Improved sanitation facilities include:
- Flush or pour-flush toilet/latrine to
- Piped sewer system
- Septic Tank
- Pit Latrine
- Ventilated improved pit latrine
- Pit latrine with slab
- Composting toilet
- Piped household water connection
- Public standpipe
- Borehole
- Protected dug well
- Protected Spring
- Rainwater collection
RSS Feed