Today, over a billion people don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one out of every eight on the planet. Think about it. Water: It is at the root of a daily crisis faced by a billion of the world’s most at-risk people—a calamity that threatens life and destroys livelihoods on a overwhelming scale.

water crisis

Unlike war and terrorism, the global water crisis does not make media headlines, despite the fact that it claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. Unlike natural disasters, the water crisis does not rally international action, even though that more people die each year from drinking dirty water than die from the all the hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes combined.

This is a silent crisis experienced by the poor, and accepted by those with the resources, technology, and the political power to end it. Yet this is a crisis that is holding back human progress, consigning large segments of humanity to lives of poverty, helplessness, and insecurity.

health and sanitation

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.

women and children

On the continent of Africa alone, people spend the majority of their time (about 40 billion hours every year) looking for water. Women and children bear the worst of this work, walking miles to the nearest water source. They are forced to walk to places that may not be safe to collect water that will likely make them sick.

The time that these women and children spend walking in search of water, coupled with related diseases prevent them from going to school, working a job, and properly caring for their families.

It’s terrible to think that anyone’s time would be consumed with such a thing so basic to life as finding clean drinking water, but these women and children face even greater dangers. Along their daily journey to find water they face the ever increasing global problem of sexual assault and harassment. The work they put in carrying heavy jugs of water takes such a drastic toll on their backs that they develop back problems early in life.

The solution to the problems these women and children face every day is as simple as having a water well nearby that will provide clean, safe drinking water. With the water problem solved, these women can focus their energies on better caring for their families and improving their lives. Children can go to school, learn a trade, and work to build a brighter future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

economy

Clean water can alleviate poverty among people groups all over the world, and give people the time and the tools necessary to bring their communities out of the economic crisis. As the quantity and quality of accessible water solutions increases the food supply becomes more affordable and healthier. Clean water impacts a communities resilience to disease and reduces the effects of climate shocks and inhibits environmental degradation.

Every $1 invested in clean water solutions results in an exponential return.