The Global Clean Water Crisis, its Effects, and how to Combat them Commented [c1]: Adjusted Picture

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A Charity: Water White Paper

William Chandler
Contents
Executive Summary 3

Effect of Water Crisis on Developing Countries

Hours Wasted Collecting Water 3

Health Risks 4

Women’s Lifestyle 4

How to Combat the Global Water Crisis

Obtaining Clean Water 5

Education 6

Conclusion 6

References 7

Figures
Figure 1 3

Figure 2 5

Figure 3 5
Executive Summary
Around the globe, around 771 million people do not have basic access to safe and clean drinking
water (“Charity: water”). In impoverished areas, many draw their water from surface water
sources such as rivers, ponds, lakes. These sources are often highly contaminated which cause
not only many health issues, but economic issues as well (“Water School”). The various
problems caused by this issue have prevented these developing countries to become self-
sufficient and grow economically. There are several solutions that can be put in place to combat
the global water crisis, which will significantly improve the health of those in these
impoverished areas. At Charity: Water, our mission the is to eliminate the number of individuals
that do not have access to clean water so that they can live a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

Effect of Water Crisis on Developing Countries

Hours Wasted Collecting Water
Throughout the globe, but mostly African countries, there have is a significant lack of access to
clean water. The following f Figure 1 shows the percentages of the population that have access to
and can use basic drinking water services (“Unicef”).

Figure 1 - Percentage of population that have access to clean drinking water services.

Figure 1 one clearly points out the lack of access to clean drinking water, and it can be noted to
this mostly occurs in developing countries. Since the inhabitants of these impoverished countries
do not have easy access to clean water, they often must spend most of their day searching and
collecting drinkable water. Since water is a necessity for life, they have no choice but make the
long walk to get water, rather than taking steps to improve their quality of life by growing more
food, earning an income, or completing an education. In Africa, women spend 40 billion hours a
year walking to collect water (“Charity: water”).
Health Risks
Since water is so scare in these countries, they often result to drinking whatever water is
available to them, even though it is most of the time contaminated. This is because these are
surface water sources, which means that they can easily be watering holes for livestock, and
downhill from mudslides and latrines. These water sources are often filled with harmful and even
deadly diseases such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, and diarrhea. Around the globe, around 3.4
million people a year, and 43% of these deaths are children who are under the age of five years
old (“Water School”). Among these deaths, about 829,000 humans die each year to diarrhea
because of unsafe drinking water, even though this is easily preventable (“World Health
Organization”). Death is not always a result from these diseases found in unclean water; those
who contract them can become seriously ill. When someone in one of these developing countries
becomes ill, they often do not have access to proper care because “In least developed countries,
22% of health care facilities have no water service” (“World Health Organization”). This means
that even if they have access to one of these health care facilities, they still cannot receive the
treatment and hydration that they need to become healthy again get health from these diseases.
Also, once someone becomes sick, they cannot perform the duties that once could when they
were healthy. They do not have the strength walk to go get water, earn an income, or grow food
to eat. Often when children become sick, they must be pulled out of school, causing them to miss
crucial education to broaden their perspective and equip them with to be successful. In Uganda,
over 25% of students are pulled from school due to water-related illnesses (“Water School”).
Women’s Lifestyle
Lasty, in these cities and villages, women and girls are often the ones tasked with finding and
providing water for their families. Since they must spend hours of their day all their time
collecting water, they often end up having to either drop out of school or cannot help their
families in other areas. Also, H having access to a clean water source is crucial for a woman
going through pregnancy, and once the child is newly born. Also, wWhen a woman is pregnant
and must go collect water for her family, this can be dangerous to her health and that of the child
(“Water.org”). Since she is collecting water for her husband and children, this water vessel can
be very heavy and cause her to strain herself to carry it. This can then lead to further heal issues
during pregnancy and can even lead to a miscarriage.
Each of these factors lead to the population to focus on life endangering or even life ending
problems rather than focusing on their economic issues. Therefore, these country’s economies
cannot progress and produce more technology and infrastructure to improve their quality of life.
It is stated that, “An additional $18 billion is foregone due to missed productive work time as
people struggle with the dire health issues that come with waterborne illnesses” (“Water
School”). If they easy access to a water source, they could spend their time working a job or
getting an education to improve not only their own family’s economic situation, but that of their
country.

How to Combat the Global Water Crisis

Obtaining Clean Water
One of the ways that this issue can be resolved is by working alongside the villagers to provide a
safe and clean source of water in the way of a rainwater collection tank. These tanks are about
6,000 liters in volume and that safely collect rainwater as it precipitates from the sky. One of
these rainwater tanks can be seen below.

Figure 2 - Rainwater collection tank.

As seen in the figure 2, the water runs off the roof of the house and into the collection tank
through a small pipe. This makes sure that no debris gets in the water as it comes of the roof
making it safe to drink. One of these tanks can easily supply a family with enough water for
themselves and their garden if used properly. The biggest limitation to this solution is the cost of
the tank. One tank can cost around 700 dollars, and there are millions of families that need one
these tanks.
Another way to combat the global water crisis is through solar disinfection, which uses the sun’s
UV rays to purify water. This is done by filling a clear plastic bottle with dirty water and then
leaving it out under direct sunlight for an entire day. This process can be seen in the following f
Figure 3.
 Figure 3 - Solar disinfection

This method, “destroys 99.9% of bacteria and pathogens” (“Water School”). The last solution to
combat the global water crisis is to dispose of garbage and waste in a healthy manner. This
method allows the villagers to collect water from the surface sources and not have to worry about
getting sick from them. Therefore, they can spend a significantly less amount of time collecting
water and use that time it to improve their quality of life. The biggest limitation to this solution is
the distribution of these bottles. The bottles themselves are inexpensive, but it can be a difficult
task to get these plastic bottles to the villages. Since the design is to reuse the bottles, there is no
issue with the disposal of the plastic. This can be done the use of latrines and composting. This
prevents the waste and garbage from running downhill when it rains, and in turn prevents surface
water sources from being contaminated. This means that less of people in the towns will become
sick and die from these water sources.
Education
Another useful way that combats the lack of clean water in these civilizations is using education.
Bringing them new technology can help solve the problem, but if they are equipped with the
knowledge, they can use it that to solve problems on their own. There are common practices,
such as making latrines and composts that villages can put into practice that they are unaware of
due to the lack of education on the topic. If they are to learn about these practices, their waste
will not run downhill into the surface water sources, keeping them cleaner. There are local
organizations all around the globe whose mission is to provide these villages with this kind of
knowledge.
Each of these solutions takes a great deal of global support and donation. All over the globe there
are organizations that know their communities needs, and they need people who are fortunate
enough to volunteer and make contributions so that their mission is successful. The goal of
Charity: Water is to connect humans across Earth by partnering with these local organizations so
they can succeed.

What this will Accomplish

On Earth, Africa is one of the most dependent continents. If majority of the population was to
gain access to a clean drinking water source, this cycle of dependence and poverty could be put
to an end. Women and children would quit walking several hours each do to go collect water,
which will keep the children in school. Women can also pursue other life changing activities like
acquiring a job or agriculture to provide their families with more resources. With access to a
clean water source, children will become sick less frequent, which will also help keep them in
school. Even more importantly, there will be a significant decrease in mortality rate due to
unclean water. The lack of water contributes to this continuous cycle of poverty and dependence
on other countries.

Conclusion
Throughout the globe, the lack of clean water is major crisis. Millions become sick and die each
year due to the contaminated water in their surrounding area. This sickness causes individuals to
miss school and lose jobs, ultimately leading their family and village into a worse quality of life.
All these factors lead to poor economies in these villages and towns, leaving them in a never-
ending cycle of poverty. Therefore, it is crucial to provide these developing countries with
infrastructure to allow them access to a clean water source that will eventually lead to them being
able to focus on other things like, growing food, finding jobs, and supporting their families.
References

“Clean Water for All.” WaterSchool, https://www.waterschool.com/the-solution.

D26p6gt0m19hor.Cloudfront.net. Unicef, https://d26p6gt0m19hor.cloudfront.net/whywater/jmp-

2019-wash-households.pdf.

“Drinking-Water.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization,

https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water.

Thelwell, Kim. “Rainwater Harvesting Revolutionized by an App.” The Borgen Project, Kim
Thelwell Https://Borgenproject.org/Wp-
Content/Uploads/The_Borgen_Project_Logo_small.Jpg, 18 Dec. 2020,
https://borgenproject.org/rainwater-harvesting-revolutionized-by-an-app/.

“Why Water - Impact of the Global Water Crisis: Charity: Water.” Charity,
https://www.charitywater.org/global-water-crisis.

“Women and Water - A Woman's Crisis.” Water.org, https://water.org/our-impact/water-

crisis/womens-
crisis/#:~:text=They%20are%20responsible%20for%20finding,of%20money%20to%20sec
ure%20water.