What Does the World Water Crisis Mean for Animals?

As thousands of bloggers tackle the water crisis for Blog Action Day, you'll hear statistics like: Around the world, nearly 900 million people still rely on drinking water sources that are unsafe. Or: Every day, 22,000 children die from causes that could be prevented if they had access to safe drinking water.

But what does this have to do with animal welfare?

At the most basic level, animals need clean drinking water, too. While some animals are able to tolerate some water-borne pathogens better than humans, there's a long list of bacteria and parasites that are just as harmful or deadly in other species. Just a couple weeks ago, 32 blackbucks died from intestinal infections at New Delhi's National Zoological Park after sewage water contaminated their enclosures following heavy monsoon rains. Several communities across the U.S. noted a rise in leptospirosis among dogs this year, a bacterial disease which thrives in water and can be fatal.

But there's a lot more to the issue than the direct threat to animals of unsafe drinking water. Human and animal lives are intertwined on many levels, and when there are threats to humans, it often means trouble for the animals around them, too:

When zoonotic disease spreads, culling begins. Earlier this year, two people in Neuquén, Argentina, contracted leptospirosis and it was blamed on contact with stray dogs. City officials decided that the way to stop the disease was to start killing off hundreds of dogs a day. Fortunately, they heard the international outcry against the massacre and, at the 11th hour, changed their plan, targeting the source of the disease by cleaning up city dumps and focusing on securing the city's water supply.

There are many diseases where animals take the fall, if not as the source, at least as a carrier. If we can stop the spread of disease with safe water and basic sanitation, we can stop disease-related culls.

When people can't care for themselves, they can't care for their animals. In many developing nations, animals are critical to survival. Livestock provides families with food and income, and dogs help provide protection from both human and wildlife predators, in addition to their role as companions. But if a family doesn't have safe water for their kids, the animals are on their own. Of course, it's a vicious cycle — if the animals wind up sick, it only makes things worse for the people — and the only way to stop it is by promoting the health of the entire community, which starts with our most basic resource: water.

When water is scarce, competition runs high. There are many concerns that the lack of access to safe water will soon be the number one cause of war. But when it comes to human-animal relations, the conflict is already underway, thanks to habitat destruction and drought from development and climate change. The conflict comes in many forms, from unwelcome wildlife closing in on villages in search of water, to heightened tensions between farmers struggling to grow crops with limited resources and the animals who threaten their harvest.

As we've seen all-too-frequently, when wildlife is seen as interfering with human life, the concepts of co-existence, compassion and even endangered species protection go out the window.

It's in everyone's best interest for the world's human population to have access to clean, safe drinking water. If it's not available to our species, others are in danger, too. So, join UNICEF in supporting the United Nations' efforts to bring sustainable access to clean water and basic sanitation to communities around the world.

Photo credit: Technofreak