Projects

Facts about Water

• Over one billion people, nearly twenty percent of the world's population, lack access to safe drinking water.

• In  2004, 2.2 million deaths worldwide were attributed to unsafe water; nine out of ten of these were children under five years of age.

• The lack of clean water kills an estimated 4,500 children a day.

• A third of the world's population lives in water-stressed countries now. By 2025, this is expected to rise to two-thirds.

• The water crisis spans across all developing countries, but is concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

• 2.6 billion people, 40% of the world's population lack access to adequate sanitation.

• Many women and young girls in Sub-Saharan Africa must walk an extimated six miles every day to get enough water for their families.  This daily task, prevents many from pursuing education or earning extra income.

• The need to retrieve clean water frequently prevents mothers from taking children to doctors to treat illnesses or get immunizations.  Moreover, disease and illness, such as HIV, cannot be treated effectively without a supply of clean water.

• This lack of water and sanitation affects every aspect of the family's life, and condemns people to a perpetual struggle to survive at subsistence level.

Sources: WaterAid, 2005; UNICEF/WHO Water for Life, Making it Happen, 2005; BBC News October 19, 2004; Department of International Development, Water Action PLAn, March 2004; UNESCO/International Year of Fresh Water 2003; Water Aid, UK

Thanks to www.ethoswater.com for this compilation.