Marissa Findish

12-3-18

Faith Religion Society

SLA 150 03

Dr. Gabrielli

Catholic Social Teaching: Clean Water Shortage

Catholic Social Teachings discusses the obvious logical, as well as moral, concerns

pertaining to the effects of prolonged water shortage across the globe. Although the larger issue

may reside in the fact that the world’s water source in poverty stricken areas may be of very poor

quality. This is something that mankind has been battling for all of history, but the need for

having clean water was most notably discovered by the Jericho civilization in 8000 B.C (Petri,

2012). They began to understand the need for clean water sources, as well as, separation of the

drinking water and bathing waters. Fast forward to the ancient Greeks and Romans between 500

B.C. – 500 A.D, was now the situations of mass cities with horrific sanitation. They would use

the same water to wash clothes, bathe, go to the bathroom, and then use it to drink or eat.

Although this example was 2000 years ago, the same concerns still occur today within the poor

and developing nations. This issue is something that goes hand in hand with the Option for the

Poor and Vulnerable in the Catholic Social Teachings.

The effects of water shortage takes the largest toll on the less fortunate, again, only

making it more apparent as to why action is needed. Pope Benedict XVI states that “food and

access to water as universal rights of all human beings, without distinction or discrimination”

(Caritas in Veritate 27). He also mentions how he is directed talking about developing nations
and poor countries. His plea for help to those in need falls in line with the Rights and

Responsibility section of Catholic Social Teachings (CST).

Luke 4:16-21 says “Jesus proclaims his mission: to bring good news to the poor and

oppressed.” At the moment this is not the case, according to The Environmental Literacy Council

“an estimated 1.7 million deaths a year can be attributed to unsafe water supplies. Most of these

deaths are from diarrheal diseases; 90 percent of which are children in developing countries.”

(2015). While most of the world does have direct access to running water, often times small

towns outside of bigger cities in developing countries may not be recognized as citizens of a city.

This then deprives them the right for running water, causing them to result to using local streams

and rivers as their only water supply. This clearly goes against a quote in the section of the

Rights and Responsibility CST: Jeremiah 22: 13-16 says “A legitimate government upholds the

rights of the poor and vulnerable”. In other cases, people will be so far from a developed area

that they will use outdated techniques for drinking water, for example plainly drinking directly

from natural bodies of water.

Many times education may play a part as well. The unawareness of the water someone is

ingesting may be hurting them is is deemed unsafe, is a serious problem. While many solutions

are practical, such as boiling water to sanitize it, this is not common knowledge due to the lack of

education. This causes a person to not be fully aware of the minimal of education pertaining to

the water sources nearby . In the situations where the person knows how to perform said

techniques, the limited resources such as wood to burn a fire may be a limiting factor. For these

reasons, clean water scarcity is not a problem with a clear solution. The issues needs to be

tackled at the source, which is directly associated with severe poverty.

 So how exactly does clean water shortages affect a country? In developing nations, water

shortage corresponds to the rate of illness increases due to the water-borne illnesses within the

water itself. “Less water also means sewage does not flow, and mosquitoes are other insects

breed on stagnant dirty water. The result is deadly malaria and other infections” (Eschooltoday,

2017). The issue of sewage may be something overlooked when talking about water scarcity. It

is directly related to outbreaks of malaria, which is a life threatening disease. Along with sewage

issue is the issue of directy dumping feces and urine in local streams. These contaminate the

same water that is used to cook, clean, and drink. Other serious diseases, such as cholera, will

only further the spread of this unsanitary issue. Causing diarrhea and vomiting just worsen the

issue. When countries have small amounts of clean water to work with, restaurants will use as

little as possible to clean items, causing an easier spread of infection and disease.

Aside from the devastating effects of clean water shortage worldwide, is the issue of

greed and the disregard for clean water. Water is of free access for most and is often a gift most

forget to be grateful for, that being said, access to clean water should be a basic right. As far the

theme in Catholic Social Teaching Care for God's Creation, the misuse of water could be against

this theme. Pope Francis said “we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received

and must share with others.” (Laudato Si 159). Being ungrateful and wasting an extensive

amount of clean water is not showing care for goods creation. It is also going against the Option

for the Poor and Vulnerable in the Catholic Social Teachings by ignoring their needs in order to

fulfill a personal one. “Theologically, water is the matrix of creation, a ritual substance par

excellence, and a gift from God intended for the benefit of all people.” (Zenner 2018).

As far as Catholic Social Teaching, many of their views are directly related to the issue of

clean water scarcity. The theme of Rights and Responsibility talks about the human right to free
accessible water. The theme of Option for the Poor and Vulnerable expresses the duty to help the

poor and vulnerable who may not be as lucky as others around the world. The theme of Care for

God's Creation explains that everyone must work together to solve the foreseen issue of global

water scarcity, while continuing the battle of conserving water currently.

Works Cited

Benedict. Caritas in Veritate. Catholic Truth Society, 2009.

eSchooltoday. Effects of Water Scarcity. 2017,

www.eschooltoday.com/global-water-scarcity/effects-of-water-shortage.html.

Accessed 6 Dec. 2018.

On Care for Our Common Home: Laudato Si: Encyclical Letter. United States Conference of

Catholic Bishops, 2015.

A Brief History of Water and Health from Ancient Civilizations to Modern Times. Edited by

Juuti Petri, Oct. 2012,

Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching.

www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-

teaching/car e-for-creation.cfm.

Water in Developing Countries.

enviroliteracy.org/water/water-supply/water-in-developing-countries/.

Waterborne Disease Related to Unsafe Water and Sanitation. 4 Aug. 2016,

www.who.int/sustainable-development/housing/health-risks/waterborne-

disease/en/.

Wolfe, Sarah, and David B Brooks. “Water Scarcity: An Alternative View and Its Implications

for Policy and Capacity Building.” Natural Resources Forum, vol. 27, no. 2,

2003, pp. 99–107., doi:10.1111/1477-8947.00045.

Zenner, Christiana. “Access to Clean Water Is a Life Issue That the Church Must Defend.”

National Catholic Reporter, 20 Apr. 2018,

www.ncronline.org/news/environment/access-clean-water-life-issue-church-must-defend.