How do you get water?

Saturday, January 17, 2009

According to an Uzbek saying, "if you run out of water, you run out of life. "Some experts would say that those words seem more prophetic than proverbial. Each year about two million people die as a result of poor sanitation and contaminated water, and 90 percent of the victims are children.



The fact is that over a third of the world's population is seriously affected by a water and sanitation crisis. The problem is particularly severe in Africa, where 6 out of 10 people do not even have a proper toilet- a factor that, according to World Health Organization report, contributes to " the transfer of bacteria, viruses and parasites found in human excreta which... contaminate water resources, soil and food. " Such contamination, the report notes, "is a major cause of diarrhoea, the second biggest killer of children in developing countries, and leads to other major diseases such as cholera, schistosomiasis, and trachoma."

How do you get water? Do you just turn on a faucet and out it pours? Or, as is common in some lands, do you have to walk a long distance, wait in line, and then carry a heavy bucket of the precious liquid back to your home? Does it take you several hours each day just to get enough water for washing and cooking? In many lands, water is that scarce and that difficult to obtain!

Did you know that 40 percent of the world's population "carry their water from wells, rivers, ponds, or puddles outside of their homes." In some countries, women may spend up to six hours fetching water for their families, lugging it home in containers that, when full, weigh more than 40 pounds. WOW! Next time we will talk about "DRAINING DRY THE RIVERS AND STREAMS" also we will discuss, WHAT IS BEING DONE TO ALLEVIATE THE CRISIS and WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION?.