With every new person learning about the water crisis, more people are thinking about solutions and working toward the day when everyone has access to safe clean water and a toilet.
Water is vital to our everyday lives, but for 780 million people living without access to safe water this is a constant struggle. In fact, the water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
More people learning about the water crisis means more people working together towards access to safe water for all.
Water, water everywhere…but not enough that’s clean, says a new WHO and UNICEF report released this week. As part of the Millennium Development Goals, the world aimed to halve by 2015 the population without access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation. The good news is that we met the drinking water goal back in 2010.
2 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water because of smart investment in water and sanitation. This is resulting in 1,656 children’s lives saved every day. Now that’s great news, but there is still much to do – 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene related causes. Completely preventable, stupid, loss of life that should not be allowed in today’s world. Yet it goes on. Women and girls are most affected by this tragic reality, keeping them trapped in extreme poverty and devastated by preventable disease.
For World Water Day, March 22, ONE asked its members to donate their voices to raise awareness about the importance of water sustainability. The Chicago ONE Congressional District Leaders rose to the challenge by raising awareness at the Global Passport Youth Summit. The event was sponsored by Surge for Water, a US nonprofit organization that funds projects that provide access to safe water in developing regions.
The good news is that the solutions are at hand. We know how to bring people clean water and improved sanitation and the solutions are simple and cost-effective. We just need the political will and collaboration to move forward.
More people learning about the water crisis means more people working together towards access to safe water for all.
