Where Do You Get Your Water?

What is your favorite bottled water? Fiji Water? Smart Water? Hate the taste of your tap water? Imagine having to get your water from a muddy pond or a polluted river. People in Africa spend an average of 40 billion hours every year just looking for water–something that we take for granted every day. On top of that the water that these women spend the majority of their time looking for will most likely also make them sick.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Young children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies often aren’t strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.

Children under five years old experience 90% of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions. Many of these diseases are easily preventable. The UN calculates that one tenth of the global disease burden can be prevented simply by providing a clean water supply and improving sanitation.

Tragic, yes. But there’s something you can do about it. The solution is as simple as drilling a water well that accesses the clean, safe water that flows freely in aquifers about 500 feet below the ground. About $10 gives clean, safe drinking water to 10 people for 20 years. Stay tuned to learn how you can donate to the cause.