Clean Water and Global Health - Five Things to Know

by Alanna Shaikh · 2009-05-23 11:07:00 UTC
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(photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt)

1. Provision of clean water is a classic example of a multi-factoral problem. It's influenced by many things - industrial pollution, household use, agricultural runoffs, home water treatment, government regulations, and more. Pakistan is a great (depressing) example. Water sources are consistently contaminated by raw sewage, garbage, industrial waste, and farm runoff.

2. More than 1 billion people live without access to safe water and 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation.

3. Lack of clean water has impacts you might not think of. 443 million school days are lost annually due to water-borne illness. Economic impacts are also severe.

4. 2008 was the International Year of Sanitation. No major improvements in access to clean water happened in 2008. Also, the UN has set a target for Environmental Sustainability Millennium Development Goal 7 of halving by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. I hope this will be more successful.

5. Low income populations, and children, consistently bear the brunt of lack of access to clean water. Most deaths due to a lack of clean water occur in poor children. Low income communities consistently have less access to safe water. 4500 children die each day from lack of clean water and sanitation facilities.

More Information

I like the aguanomics blog, though it's mostly about water supply, not water quality.

Detailed article from the Global Health Council

The Kaiser Global Health Site has a wealth of detailed statistics

Alanna Shaikh
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