By Jheel Gosain, Staff Writer for Save The Water™ | July 17, 2015
The average American family uses 300 gallons of water on a daily basis (Water.org). Showers account for 16.8%, washers use up 21.7%, and faucets take up 15.7%; 13.7% is lost through leaks, while 5.3% is used for other purposes or appliances (Panda). Most Americans take having easy access to clean water for granted, and despite their best intentions and generosity, they have little knowledge of water access conditions around the world and the sustainable practices that could improve these conditions.
According to the CDC, 780 million people worldwide do not have access to an improved water source (“Global Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene”), and an estimated 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation. In India, nearly 4,000 children will die today from a lack of water (Harris). The water supply in India is contaminated by many different harmful pollutants, many of which are deadly to the human body. In fact, the water there is so unsafe for consumption that it cannot be used for brushing your teeth. More than half of the water supply is contaminated with toxic bacteria in rural areas, where 70 percent of India’s population lives, which means that clean water is scarce for approximately 1 billion people. This widespread water scarcity is an issue that has been growing exponentially for many years in India (Water.org).
Everyday, hundreds of millions of people in rural and urban areas throughout sub-Saharan Africa are deprived of clean water. Women and girls walk miles daily to gather water from rivers and streams that are full of contaminants and pathogens; as a result, their families often suffer from serious water-borne diseases. The quality of life in countries like India and in sub-Saharan African regions would be improved with better access to safer drinking water, which would in turn result in fewer water-borne illnesses and an improvement in the general health of the populace. In many developing countries, about 801,000 children under the age of 5 perish from dysentery each year; that accounts for about 11% of 7.6 million child deaths every year; every one of these deaths could have been averted or prevented with access to clean water (Snyder) and proper sanitation.
Save the Water™ works towards the development and implementation of sustainable water access conditions, sanitation practices, and water technology. These would greatly improve the lives of many people across the world, especially those living in India, the sub-Saharan region, and other developing communities, where simply getting a sip of clean water can often be an extremely difficult task. Every contribution you make will go a long way towards the achievement of this goal.
Works Cited
“Global Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 05 July 2015.
Harris, Gardiner. “Rains or Not, India Is Falling Short on Drinkable Water.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 07 July 2015.
“India.” Water.org. Water.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 July 2015. N.p., n.d. Web.
Panda, Rajmohan. “A Growing Concern: How Soon Will India Run out of Water?” Journal of Global Health. Edinburgh University Global Health Society, n.d. Web. 07 July 2015.
Snyder, Shannyn. “Water In Crisis – Spotlight India.” The Water Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 July 2015.
