Every 15 seconds, a child dies in our world from the effects of poor water quality.
Pure Water For The World
I was introduced to Pure Water For The World by good friend and South Burlington Vermont resident Dr. Patty Fisher who travels to Haiti several time a year to help those in need. What I learned about water was both heartbreaking and inspiring.
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From Pure Water For The World:
Water is fundamental to survival. Go without it for a short time, and we would die. Although 71 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water only 2.5 percent of the earth’s water is fresh and approximately 2/3 of that is locked up in glaciers and permanent snow cover.
But clean, safe drinking water is not available to over 1.2 billion people (28 percent of the world population). And more than twice that number lack access to adequate sanitation, which is part of the problem. In less time than it takes to read this material, 20 children will have died because of unsafe water.
According to the World Health Organization, 1.3 million children, most under the age of 5, die every year of diarrheal disease caused by drinking contaminated water. Approximately 10 percent of those living in developing countries are infected with intestinal worms. 4 billion cases of water-born diarrhea occur annually. 6 million people are blind from trachoma. Large numbers of people are subjected to cholera and typhoid fever epidemics. And millions of people are adversely affected by the arsenic and other contaminates found in unsafe water. All told, water-related diseases, which are usually easy to prevent or to treat and are rarely seen in the affluent world, account for 80 percent of illnesses and deaths in the developing world. Imagine if 18 fully-loaded jumbo jets with children were to fall from the sky for just one day what the news would be reporting. But, that is what happens every day because of contaminated water.
About 6000 children – “the equivalent of 18 fully loaded jumbo jets” – die. Every 15 seconds, a child dies in our world from the effects of poor water quality.
Sick children cannot attend school. Parents of sick children cannot work on a regular basis. Women have more children because of the anticipated deaths. Having clean, safe drinking water is the first step to break the cycle of poverty in which many people are trapped.
This helps explain a young boy’s response to a question we often hear in the United States but could not imagine the answer. He was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” His response, “Alive.”
An adequate supply of clean, safe drinking water is urgently needed around the world. Clean, safe drinking water should be a basic human right because it is so critical to life. Every time you turn on the tap “for whatever purpose” remember how fortunate you are. Remember those who suffer because they cannot have a glass of clean, safe drinking water. Remember that one person can make a difference “one person at a time”.
Pure Water for the World (www.purewaterfortheworld.org)based in Rutland Vermont works in remote regions of developing countries which lack sustainable clean, safe drinking water. We work with local governments and community partners to select, analyze the appropriate technology for the community, and to implement cost effective projects.
Their projects include a comprehensive education program to provide the community with the basic knowledge of water use, storage and personal hygiene and how all of these factors contribute to the health and well being of the users. To reinforce the health benefits of having clean, safe drinking water, we also provide parasitic treatment and the follow up and monitoring to make sure that the technologies are being used and that they are being used properly.
To learn more and how you can help, please visit www.purewaterfortheworld.org
