Check out this post from Erin Swanson of Water.org:

Remember playing the Oregon Trail game growing up? You chose your companions, forded rivers with your oxen, went hunting, and occasionally had a brief funeral for someone on your team lost to measles, a snakebite, dysentery, typhoid, cholera, and diarrhea.

Would you believe that MILLIONS of people are suffering from some of those same diseases today? Yes: dysentery, typhoid, cholera, and diarrhea. And what do they have in common? They are the result of unsafe drinking water and no safe place to defecate, no toilet. This is why these preventable diseases kill millions of people, mostly children, in the developing world today.

This is why today, November 19, is World Toilet Day. To raise awareness of the fact that one in four people on this planet don’t have access to a toilet. To raise awareness to the face that lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection. And In India alone, the number of people who practice open defecation is double the population of the U.S.

Just as you were in that wagon with your companions on the Oregon Trail, risking your life for the promise of a better one, so we invite you to hop on our wagon today. Our vision: global access to safe water and sanitation. We have been working steadily towards this vision for 20 years. Join us and many other organizations on World Toilet Day to acknowledge the life-saving power of the toilet and appreciate the toilets in our lives. Join us as we raise a stink about the global lack of sanitation that causes not only embarrassment, concerns for safety, and lack of dignity, but preventable disease, illness, and all too often, death.

Seeing these diseases eradicated is possible, today. Will you “ford the river” with us?

Sign this online petition demanding action from global leaders to urgently address the sanitation crisis.

Learn more about World Toilet Day and sign up for monthly updates from Water.org here.

Gary White and Matt Damon of water.org just formally announced a new commitment to extend their great work around water and sanitation to Haiti.

Haiti which has suffered several hurricanes recently has had particular trouble bringing clean water to rural communities. Water.org will commit to helping bring water to a minimum of 50,000 people by investing at least 2 million dollars in work with local NGO’s.

We’ll have more on this and President Obama who will be addressing the meeting shortly.

-Chris Scott

UPDATE: Here’s video of the entire opening plenary.

“If you’re coming to help me, you’re wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” Anonymous

Photo from Partners in Health

The size of Maryland. Nine million people. A history of political instability. Natural disasters. Health crises. A ravaged environment. Severe need for clean water and respectable sanitation. The poorest country in the Western hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. Billions have been invested and yet the cycle of despair continues.

What hope can Haiti rest on?

As the United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti, President Bill Clinton has urged the thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Haiti to better coordinate to make a greater impact. One of President Clinton’s areas of focus is their water crisis, as safe water is a prerequisite for human life and the foundation of all human development efforts.

Haiti is water-stressed, meaning that less than one percent of its available water resources are in use. While the potential for groundwater exists in some of the coastal and mountainous areas, the challenge is accessing it. Even today, no Haitian city has a centralized sewage system and there are virtually no water treatment facilities for the general public. According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program report, piped water coverage in urban areas is only 21 percent.

Water mafias have sprung up in several Haitian cities, creating an informal water vending market that takes advantage of citizens. This practice is common in places with no infrastructure, and often people pay five to 10 times more money for vended water than they would for piped water.

Despite these conditions, work continues with grant-based initiatives on the ground. We also continue to explore new financing and use-rating models that could bring even longer-term sustainability to the water sector in counties like Haiti.

In light of World Water Week this week, August 17-23, water.org encourages you to look to Haiti and ask what you can do now. Learn. Advocate. Research. Find and support your favorite NGO that is making a difference there. Donate your time and talents to spread the word. We are in this thing together as we share a common need for safe water and proper sanitation. We can ignore it, or we can take steps towards lasting change.

-Erin Swanson, Water.org