Around 660 million people worldwide are do not have access to clean water. That amounts to nearly twice the population of the United States or 9% of the world’s total population. Having access to clean water is often something that people take for granted. Water can play such a large role in the daily lives of people all over the world. Below are 4 facts about water that may change the way you value water and the many ways that you use it.
- Diseases and Infections from the use of dirty water kill more each year than every form of violence, this statistic includes war and combat. Around 40% of those recorded deaths are children ages 5 and younger.
- Each year African women spend 40 billion hours fetching water. These hours take away from schooling, food gathering and income-producing work.
- With access to clean water stable plumbing, more children, specifically females will be able to attend school and not have to miss 1 week out of every month at home.
- 72% of the water collected in Sub-Saharan Africa is carried out by women. Access to clean water can give them their life back.
Why People Need Clean Water
- Proper hygiene can be maintained with clean water to bath in. Cleaner people means fewer diseases.
- Over three quarters of disease in underdeveloped countries is waterborne and can be combatted with access to clean water.
- The less time that people are spending searching for clean water, the more time they have to attend school.
- More clean water gives people access to safe cooking practices.
- Economic development can be jumpstarted as every 1$ invest in clean water can yield a return of around 8$ economically.
Addressing The Issue
Charity: water works with local communities worldwide to promote and implement sustainable water solutions to help assure that everyone worldwide has access to clean water. Since Charity: water was founded in 2006, 20,000 projects have been funded which has resulted in 6.3 million people having access to clean water in 24 countries. This includes the installation of new water collection systems and the repairing of old ones. 100% of donations are used to fund projects, since operations expenses are covered privately.
How to Contribute
Donate on a monthly, daily or one time basis. Charity: water accepts checks, stocks, PayPal and cash.
Sponsor an entire water project that will be started or continued at an appropriate location. With a donation of $10,000 or more, an entire community can have access to clean water.
Pledge your birthday to Charity: water, instead of asking your friends and family for gifts, ask them for donations. An average of 38 people get access to water from a birthday campaign.
Contact
40 Worth Street
Suite 330
New York, NY 10013
tel. 1-646-688-2323
fax. 1-646-883-3456