We are in crisis

Great progress has been made over the past 15 years to improve the availability of water to people throughout the world. An improved water supply has been provided for 1.2 billion people since 1990. But often an improved supply means little more than a well dug in a village, not running water in a home. An additional one billion people, most is rural areas or urban slums, are denied even this basic human right. For them, many of whom are children, rivers, lakes and open wells are their primary source of water for drinking, cooking and bathing.

When water is available it is often unsanitary. It is estimated that water-related illnesses such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid and intestinal worms kill nearly 1.6 million children under the age of five each year. Even when illness is not fatal diarrhea robs growing children of proper nutrition and can threaten their growth and development.

More must be done.

The ultimate goal of governments everywhere should be to insure that every person has access to a sanitary, piped water supply. Until that happens there are cheap and effective means of collecting and filtering water that will make an immediate impact on the lives of billions. It just needs to be done.

Source: Water for All: Making it Happen. (2004). World Health Organization. Retrieved December 28, 2006 from http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/en