Water and Health

At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease.

Nearly 90 percent of all diseases in the world are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene. Every year, there are 4 billion cases of diarrhea as a direct result of drinking contaminated water; this results in more than 2.2
million deaths each year—the equivalent of 20 jumbo jets crashing every day.

The weakest members of communities are the most vulnerable; every day water-related diseases claim the lives of 5000 children under the age of five. That’s roughly one every 15 seconds.

“Clean water and sanitation are among the most powerful preventative medicines for reducing child mortality. They are to diarrhea what immunization is to killer diseases such as measles or polio: a mechanism for reducing risk and averting death.”
- United Nations Development Program, 2006

Water and Poverty

In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 40 billion hours of labor are wasted each year carrying water over long distances.

Access to clean water is the foundation for other forms of development. Without easy access to water that is safe, countless hours are spent in water collection, household income is spent on purchasing water and medical treatment for water-related diseases. These factors contribute to keeping people trapped in poverty.

The statistics indicate a two-way relationship between extreme poverty and lack of access to safe water. More than a billion people live on less than a dollar a day, including the vast majority of those without access to safe water.

"Water management is a key factor in the global battle to remove the scourge of extreme poverty and to build secure and prosperous lives for hundreds of millions of people in the developing world." 

- World Health Organization, 2007

Water and Education

Water-related diseases cost 443 million school days a year.

More than 150 million school-age children are severely affected by waterborne parasites like roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm. These children commonly carry up to 1000 parasites at a time, causing anemia, stunted growth, and other debilitating conditions.

Children who suffer from constant water-related illnesses carry the disadvantages into school. Poor health directly reduces cognitive potential and indirectly undermines schooling through absenteeism, attention deficits, and early drop-out.

“Over half of all schools worldwide lack safe water and sanitation, jeopardizing the health and education of millions of schoolchildren. Most of the 115 million children currently out of school are girls. Many are denied their place in the classroom by lack of access to decent toilets at school, or the daily chore of walking miles to collect water.” – UNICEF, 2005

Unclean Water : A Global Crisis

Water. It is at the heart of a daily crisis faced by a billion of the world’s most vulnerable people—a crisis that threatens life and destroys livelihoods on a devastating scale.

Unlike war and terrorism, the global water crisis does not make media headlines, despite the fact that it claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. Unlike natural disasters, it does not rally concerted international action, despite the fact that more people die each year from drinking dirty water than from the world’s hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes combined.

This is a silent crisis experienced by the poor, and tolerated by those with the resources, technology, and the political power to end it. Yet this is a crisis that is holding back human progress, consigning large segments of humanity to lives of poverty, vulnerability, and insecurity.

At Living Water International, we are addressing this most basic of needs by helping deprived communities acquire safe, clean water. Our goal is to substantially ease the global water crisis while addressing root causes such as injustice, oppression, and abject poverty. As this happens, communities and worldviews are transformed—both among those in desperate physical need, and among those who have been blessed with much.

Ways I Can Help...

Blood:Water Mission
The purpose of BWM projects is to "empower communities to fight against..."  Rather than providing a hand-out, which inevitably leads to dependency and failed projects, we seek to transform communities from the inside out, enabling them to be the agents of change within their own context.  While safe water access, hygiene, and sanitation are core objectives within our water programs, the process of enabling these skills and technologies in a community ultimately leads them on a journey of self-discovery, giving communities a platform for understanding their own capabilities, assets, and most importantly self-worth.  It's not until communities are able to understand and embrace their potential, that they are fully able to utilize and sustain the projects they have worked so hard to achieve.

H2O Project
We train, consult, and equip local people to implement solutions in their own countries. We also lead hundreds of volunteers on mission trips each year, working with local communities, under the leadership of nationals, to implement water projects. It's hard to know which lives are changed more—those "serving" or those "being served." Our training programs in shallow well drilling, pump repair, and hygiene education have equipped thousands of volunteers and professionals in the basics of integrated water solutions since 1997.

How Much Water Does Your Household Use?

Click the link below to get an estimate of the number of gallons of water used in your household.  Remeber:  this is ONLY an estimate...

Household Water Usage Estimation

What is "Clean Water"?

The benefits of clean water and having plenty of safe water to drink are well known. Most of us have experienced the feeling of not getting enough water; when we feel sluggish and light-headed from being dehydrated.
Many common health problems can be avoided by all of us if we simply drink more water.
Staying hydrated and drinking plenty of water helps to flush out wastes from our bodies.
Water is a transport medium for the nutrients our bodies need.
Body temperature (perspiration) is regulated by the amount of available water in our bodies.
Water also regulates the pH balance and supports a multitude of physiological processes.
Being well hydrated elevates our energy levels and can help alleviate headaches.
Severe dehydration causes a multitude of health problems, not the least of which are fatigue, depression, diabetes, high blood pressure, weakness, and loss of energy.
But some people have plenty of water to drink. Take the rain forest, for instance. Water is everywhere, but people still suffer from a lack of safe, clean water. The water they find to drink is often unsafe for them to consume.
So what they need is not just any water, but they need to experience the benefits of clean water! Clean, clear and safe water.
So, what do we mean when we use the term "clean water"? In this context, we are referring to water that is safe for human consumption. “Safe” water is also a good definition. Safe water must be free from disease-causing pathogens. But water that is free of pathogens may still be clouded by sediment.
Water that is fit for human consumption must be clean and clear. It must be water that does not have offensive odor or color, making it undesirable and unpalatable, and deterring people from drinking it. It must be desirable to drink it and people must have confidence that they can give it to their family with certainty that they are giving them water that is fresh, clean, clear, healthy and safe.
Access to safe, clean water opens up a world of possibilities for community development. Without water, the most basic element of life, all other development efforts will hit a brick wall. Sanitation and hygiene, working together with a source of clean water create lasting community health and sustained human growth and development.
Just the simple act of washing hands with soap can reduce the incidence of diarrheal disease. When coupled with the use of adequate sanitation facilities and a dependable source of clean water, the multiplied effects are even greater.
As a child, disease from lack of water, sanitation and hygiene carries over into the schoolhouse. A child’s education is affected by an increase in absenteeism, decrease in cognitive potential, and increased attention deficits. Young girls often stop going to school if the school lacks adequate sanitation facilities.
With the benefits of clean water, adequate sanitation, and good hygiene in place, educated individuals grow up to be enterprising adults, who become the owners of businesses, as well as corporate, community and national leaders.
From the early years of life, throughout childhood and into adulthood, water is the common beneficial factor determining the quality of life and the possibilities of the future.