Water Wellness

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THE WATER CRISIS

The most common cause of death in the developing world is drinking dirty water.”

Water is one of the key essentials of life, but millions of people around the world do not have access to clean water and this has become one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Water is life, it is that one element that has the power to make a community thrive or die. It can empower people, and put them on a path of progress. It is one of the basic fundamental blocks needed for development and prosperity. Lack of clean and safe water impacts the lives of people in more ways than one! Which is why, in this day and age, we need to take the water crisis seriously. We need to understand why it matters so much.

IMPACT ON WOMEN

Women and girls in developing countries spend 266 million hours every day finding a place to collect water from.”

In developing countries women have to walk long distances in difficult conditions to provide water for their families and often the water they do get is unsafe due to contamination which can lead to life threatening diseases like diarrhoea and cholera.

The hours spent in water collection leaves them with little time to focus on other things like work or family care. It hinders their ability to reach full potential as they are stuck spending hours over providing water day in and day out.

Often times, they carry heavy loads of water for miles every day, which leads to chronic back, leg cramps and poor posture. Most of the women in water scarce areas suffer from malnutrition and usually give birth to weak babies. Foraging for water whilst pregnant can be dangerous, as is consuming harmful or contaminated water, both for the baby and the mother.

From maintaining a healthy pregnancy, to delivering a strong new born baby, safe water plays a vital part in a woman’s life.

IMPACT ON CHILD HEALTH AND EDUCATION

443 million school days are lost each year due to children being made sick by unsafe water.”

Children are often tasked with the duty of collecting water for the household. This process alone is so time consuming that it keeps them away from important tasks like studies, homework and playing. Majority of these children are young girls, they are also at an increased risk of abuse, walking far away from home, unaccompanied by an adult. Furthermore, they also suffer back and neck pain, and develop poor posture due to the frequent carrying of heavy loads of water on their backs. They are also prone to infections and face difficulty due to lack of clean water at home which leads to poor health and an inability to attend school or focus on studies.

IMPACT ON HEALTH

Every 2 minutes, a child dies from a water related disease.”

Drinking unsafe and contaminated water leads to poor nutrition, infections and diseases like cholera and kidney failure. An estimated 1 Million people succumb to their deaths due to water, sanitation or hygiene related diseases which are preventable with safe water.

Scarcity of water in areas also affect agriculture and livestock, yielding an inferior quality of crops and food that lacks nutrition and has added toxins transferred from the use of dirty water. Healthy, nutritious food is often scarce, hygiene is lacking which increases the risk of infections within the community.

The malnutrition stunts the growth of children, both physically and mentally depriving them of a full and healthy lifestyle.

HOW WE HELP

We work together with the communities to come up with sustainable and safe water solutions. Our projects include installing, shallow wells, community water wells, and water filtration units. To read details about our projects, please visit the Safe Water Project page.