Summarize the major water issues facing the world today.

Nearly 1 out of every 8 people on Earth do not have sufficient or clean water.  In rural areas of the world, the women in the community are sent to collect water, resulting in 200 million hours of combined work every day.  Two thirds of people who lack access to good water make less than $2 a day, and the remaining third lives on less than $1 each day.  Not only is water scarce, but once collected, the lack of sanitation causes more deaths than guns cause in wars.  Many children die (one every 20 seconds) each day due to diarrhea caused by dirty water.  Such crises are because of fecal matter entering water -- only 62% of the global population has access to so called "improved sanitation."

Water covers 70% of the earth, and rural access is not its only crisis.  Lack of water endangers rivers, crops, marine life, ecosystems, energy, and industry.  Only 2.5% of the earth's water is fresh and drinkable, and of that, two-thirds are frozen.  This lack of freshwater is putting animals at risk -- nearly half of the 573 animals on the endangered list are from freshwater environments.  Though the planet still has the same amount of water as it did when dinosaurs roamed, much of it is polluted (from industrial factories, etc.) or frozen (and melting due to climate change).  Climate change alone is the cause of flooding, drought, and melting ice caps.

What are people doing to help?

Ryan's Well Foundation strives to deliver fresh drinking water to people living in impoverished environments without access to healthy water.   They work in East, West, Central, and South Africa, the Americas, and South Asia, providing wells and latrines (638 and 709 respectively to date) to help many people have access to basic water.

With growing populations and economies, communities around the world try to conserve and collect water.  Harvesting rainwater is a common way to bring safe drinking water to those in need.  Organizations may also teach small communities in need how to sanitize water by boiling it, chlorine (or other types) sanitation tablets, and filters they provide to the villages or towns.

How can the problem of water allocation and safety issue be resolved?


The issue if one of economics -- the core reason people in 3rd world countries do not have access to healthy water (or any at all) is because of their poverty.  Having pipes that carry filtered water to a destination (sinks, showers, toilets, etc.) cost much more money than such people would have.  Thus, much money would be needed to give what most citizens of economically developed countries pay for on their own.

Surely small, private acts of charity help the situation (i.e., filters, tablets, etc.), but individuals like Ryan of Ryan's Well Foundation cannot make the change needed to stop the crisis.  Huge amounts of money, most likely from governments or industrial companies, need to be invested in digging safe wells for every small town or village in developing countries.

How can we, as a class, contribute to these solutions?

There are many organizations that are making a difference, and donating to them would help improve this issue.  For every $1 spent on improving the water sanitization and distribution, there is a return of $3-$34 depending on the region and technology.  The economic and technologic barriers binding the people in need prevent them from having any agency in the situation -- the difference is going to have to be made with cash.  Already, private investors spend more money promoting and donating for sanitization than corporate companies (a 10:1 ratio).  Clearly, this is an economic issue, and we, as the relatively wealthy Americans that we are, should do our part to give the basic necessity of water to those who lack it.