It’s a crisis! What else would you call it when 1 billion people don’t have access to clean water and a further 2.6 billion have no basic sanitation?

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  Locally available water sources –river, ponds and lakes—lie at the heart of rural community life. Livestock quench their thirst and cool themselves; children bathe and play; while women do their laundry and collect water for drinking and cooking.

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  Nearly 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to a clean, safe drinking water source. Like these women in Nyanza Province in Kenya, they rely on surface water for drinking, cooking, cleaning and other domestic activities.

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  An estimated 2.6 billion people don’t have access to sanitation facilities like toilets. What do toilets have to do with water? Worldwide, raw sewage, our poo and pee, is one of the greatest contaminants of water. Nearly 90% of sewage is released untreated into waterways. When people drink this water, it has the potential to make them very sick.

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  You and I can flush our pee and poo down the toilet and out of our lives. In the developing world, in communities with no access to basic toilets, human waste contaminates the water and the environment. Consider this, one gram of poop can contain 1 million bacteria and 100 parasite eggs. Now that’s a deadly weapon!

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  When dirty water is consumed, it can cause serious health problems. At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied be people suffering from completely preventable water- and sanitation-related diseases like typhoid, cholera, diarrhea, intestinal parasites, trachoma as well as skin and eye infections.

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  Women and children are primarily responsible for collecting water in most communities. They may walk hours each day to collect water from distant sources, which take precious time away from other productive activities like going to school, starting small businesses, tending to crops and children.

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  Not surprisingly, children are the most vulnerable to water- and sanitation-related diseases. In fact, 1.5 million children under age 5 die every year because of diarrhea, alone. That’s more children in this age group than will die of AIDS, Measels and Malaria combined.

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  The global water crisis doesn’t make media headlines, like war and terrorism, despite the fact that water kills more people through disease than war does through guns. Similarly, it doesn’t rally international action despite the fact that more people die of water- and sanitation-related diseases each year than all of the world’s hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis combined.

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  It might all seem very dire, but in truth there are simple, sustainable and cost effective water and sanitation solutions that can empower and transform entire communities. WaterCan and our supporters, like you, have been part of the solution since 1987.

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  A single water point, such as a borehole or hand-dug well, rainwater harvesting tank or spring development, can provide water to an entire village. This helps to combat the cycle of disease and poverty and makes way for dramatic improvements in health, educational achievement and economic growth.

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  Every year, an estimated 443 million school days are lost due to water- and sanitation-related illnesses. Where families have access to these most basic needs, children are sick less often and are able to attend school, making brighter futures a strong possibility.

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  One in every twenty-two women in Sub-Saharan Africa dies while giving birth. Maternal and child mortality rates decrease significantly where water and sanitation facilities are easily accessible by all family members.

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  Beyond the immediate humanitarian and health benefits, water and sanitation investments also make good economic sense. It is estimated that every dollar invested yields on average a $9 economic return in terms of increased productivity and reductions in healthcare costs.

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  So, how do we do our work? Partnership and local ownership lie at the heart of WaterCan’s approach to international development. We don’t send flotillas of western volunteers or experts into the field, but rather work in partnership with 15 African partner organizations who in turn enlist the help of local community members.

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  All of WaterCan’s overseas projects include three vital and inter-related components: 1) Locally appropriate clean water solutions 2) Basic sanitation; and 3) Hygiene education. In the past, it was believed that simply increasing people’s access to clean water would lead to significant improvements in health. Today we know that we need all three!

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  Join us as we strive to toward our vision of providing every child, woman and man on earth with access to clean water and basic sanitation. By simply using your voice to tell one other person about the crisis, you’re making a difference. Just think about the lives you could change if you got your friends and family involved in the cause.

The water and sanitation crisis is one of the most lethal, yet solvable, public health emergencies affecting the developing world today. It is also the single largest cause of sickness worldwide, hindering nearly every other aspect of development from health and education to economic growth and gender equality. Imagine, at any one time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water and sanitation- related diseases! View The WaterCan Case for Support Document

Photo Credit: Peter Bregg, 2009