Too Much Water Worsens Problem of Not Enough

You might think that more water would be the last thing a flood victim would want to see, but gaining access to clean drinking water can mean the difference between life and death after a devastating deluge.

Floods not only hold the devastating potential to displace thousands of people from their homes, and kill or injure those in its path, but the surges often cut off large populations of people from food, medical supplies and potable water. Without access to these vital resources, health risks and fatalities can multiply exponentially in a matter of days or even hours.

In many cases these horrible circumstances are compounded by the fact that for those who were homeless before a flood, gaining access to clean water was already an enormous challenge. As Change.org blogger Steven Samra pointed out earlier this year, when massive floods swept through Nashville in May, residents of the city's largest homeless encampment not only lost all their personal possessions, but also lacked the social safety net available to those who had been previously housed. Unable to access local, state or federal aid, without the assistance of housed friends and family, and dislocated from what limited resources (food, water, etc.) they may have had before the flood, many peoples' situation went from bad to worse.

Similar circumstances were likely faced by those individuals who were living in tents along the dry Salt River of Tempe, Arizona, which suddenly flooded this past July after a rubber dam burst. And just as that flood may have been avoided if Tempe city officials hadn't ignored safety recommendations from the makers of the dam, recent floods — and not so recent floods — should serve as vivid reminders that we need to take proactive measures to minimize the impact of potential disasters and speed recovery efforts, especially for the most vulnerable populations. And as bloggers Rich and Elizabeth Lombino highlighted recently, ignoring the environment can have disastrous effects on peoples' lives.

Find out what you can do to help with water issues for Blog Action Day and be sure to sign our petition urging President Obama to rebuild New Orleans.

Photo credit: Jay Bock