Imagine that when you woke up today, before logging online to check email or read this post you had to walk a mile or more, wait in line with as many buckets as you could carry, fill them with whatever water you can find, and haul the 50 pounds or so of water you collected back to your house, splashing on your face and up your arms with each step. It's the only water you and your family will have for the rest of the day. You'll bathe from these buckets, wash your clothes, cook your food, and drink whatever water you need to survive. It's not exactly safe to drink and one of these days, it could kill you. But if you and your family don't drink it, you'll certainly die.
Happy World Water Day .
Today, almost one in eight people on the planet won't be able to secure even a glass of safe water to drink. More than twice as many people won't be able to experience the dignity of using a toilet. For women, this mostly means waiting until the cover of night to defecate which may provide some level of privacy but of course doesn't come without personal risk. They may sound unrelated but water and toilets couldn't be more linked.
March 22 marks the 19th anniversary of World Water Day, a day designated by the United Nations to drive attention to and action against the global water and sanitation crisis. Most people reading this post are not aware of the significance of this day. It's hard to relate when you have water at the turn of the tap, the option to buy bottled water at the 7-11 down the block, and can access a toilet within 100 yards most anywhere you go.
We're here to change that.
How much water have you used today? It may be more than you think.
According to the U.N., the day is meant to focus "attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources."
As the infographic below shows, hundreds of millions of people lack access to clean water, while some of the most common products and services we use every day require hundreds, if not thousands, of gallons of water to exist.
The message on World Water Day may be clear, but the figures cited below can vary. For example, in 2008, the EPA stated that an average family may actually use up to 400 gallons of water daily. In terms of meat production, PETA suggested that it really takes "more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat."
One thing is certain, however. The proportion of people lacking access to clean water has dropped in recent years. The U.N. announced this week that it met its 2015 safe drinking water goals five years in advance. 11 percent of the world population still lacks access to clean water, but the number of individuals has dropped to 783 million, according to the Associated Press.
Yet the struggle for clean water is far from over. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a statement, "Every day more than 3,000 children die from diarrheal diseases. Achieving this goal will go a long way to saving children's lives."
Matt Damon and Gary White, co-founders of water.org, blogged for HuffPost, "Instead of viewing this [problem] as an ocean of people with their hands out waiting for charity-driven solutions, what if we see many of them, or even most of them, as potential customers." They suggest that microfinance and its "democratizing" effect on "access to capital" may help address world water and sanitation problems.
Click here for their 50 ways to conserve water.
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