Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Why Water Matters: Health


Here at WHOlives we talk a lot about water and it's ability to create change. But in a country where we use more water in the first two minutes of our morning shower than hundreds of millions of families use in an entire day it can be hard to imagine life without clean water. Over the next few days and weeks, we'll be exploring the impacts of life without clean water through a blog post series entitled, "Why Water Matters." As a part of this series we'll be discussing the ways in which water impacts health, education, women and girls, and economic opportunity. We hope to establish an open dialogue about water through these blog posts and encourage your questions, comments and suggestions along the way.

To kick the series off we thought we'd start with the most obvious impact of scarce and contaminated water: Health

It's summer time.  If you're like me you probably find yourself constantly drinking water in a vain attempt to keep yourself hydrated. In the US we find our water from many different sources -- some people drink water from the tap, some prefer bottled water. Some have water dispensers installed in their fridges while others buy filtering pitchers. Whatever your method of obtaining water, you're probably never far from an abundant supply of fresh clean water. 


Not everyone is as lucky as we are. More than 783 million people throughout the world lack access to clean water. That means one in ten people rely on water sources that are scarce,

In communities with scarce water sources women and children walk an average of 3.7 miles a day to fetch water

contaminated
A child dies every 21 seconds due to water-related diseases contracted by drinking contaminated water

Or even both

While we simply have to walk over to the sink, millions of women and children walk miles every day to find water from sources like swamps, rivers and waterholes, unprotected from animals and natural elements. This water is almost always contaminated, acting as a breeding ground for frightening parasites and diseases that cause illnesses like diarrhea, malaria, dysentery, schistosomiasis and trachoma. With no other choice, the unsafe water is scooped into their bucket and carried home to their families. The few gallons the women and children are able to bring home must be carefully rationed for cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, bathing, watering plants and of course -- drinking. 


According to the UN, more people die every year as a result of unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war.  Likewise, unsafe water is responsible for more annual deaths than HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB combined -- and about 90% of those dying are children. Because their bodies aren't yet strong enough to fight diseases like diarrhea, children are particularly vulnerable to contaminated water -- approximately every 21 seconds a mother loses a child to a water-related disease. Comprising as much as half of hospitalizations worldwide, water-related diseases put a large strain on already overburdened local health clinics. These high rates of illness cripple local economies, too, preventing millions of men and women from productive work and causing a loss of 443 million school days every year.

The good news is, we've got a solution. And it's a great one. We've designed a human-powered borehole drill called the Village Drill, capable installing clean water sources in even the most remote areas for a fraction of traditional costs.  Using this powerful new technology we can bring clean water to an entire community for as little as $4 a person. That means for less than the cost of a Big Mac or a latte from Starbucks we can change someone's life. Sounds a lot better than a greasy burger, doesn't it? 


And guess what? You can be a part of it, too. You can help keep children in their mothers' arms. You can put money back in families' pockets as they spend less on medicine. You can change lives. You can save lives. 

And it all starts with just one drop.

To learn more about how to get involved visit our website and read about our new Ripple Effect Movement. This is a great new giving program where people like you commit to give a little every month to help change a lot.