The Latest News on the Global Water Crisis
The United Nation’s General Assembly President recently stated, “Access to water is not just about ‘liquid in a bottle’ but instead touches on universal issues such as dignity, opportunity and equality.” Unfortunately due to a number of reasons such as an increase in flooding and droughts, the global water crisis is expected to grow. During the UN 2023 Water Conference, UNESCO reported globally, 2 billion people (26% of the population) do not have safe drinking water and 3.6 billion (46%) lack access to safely managed sanitation. They warn in order to accelerate real change; there is a need for more action.
Lifewater International is a non-profit Christian water charity who understands how vital it is to eradicate the global water crisis as the quality of life for millions depends on it and many countries are simply unable to address these challenges on their own. Access to clean, safe water not only affects us all; but ensuring water and sanitation is available to everyone, requires global solutions and a commitment from all of us.
The reason Lifewater is concentrating its efforts in rural areas in Cambodia, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania includes statistics like the following: half of the people in Ethiopia are drinking unsafe water, and its children are getting sick. Almost 1 in 5 people do not have access to a toilet, which adds to the health crisis. Diarrheal disease is a leading cause of death for Ethiopian children under five years old; yet it is nearly eliminated when people have access to safe, clean drinking water and can practice proper sanitation and hygiene.
Constructing custom water access and sanitation solutions to the world’s hardest to reach communities has allowed us to serve remote places like the Mayuge region in Uganda, which lies within a country where 20 million lack access to safe water. Statistics are just as bad in Cambodia where 28 percent of the people lack basic access to safe water, and 26 percent have no reliable source for hand washing with soap and water. In Tanzania our work is focused in the Shinyanga region, which too is in great need of safe water.
As with most things Lifewater recognizes real transformation can only come from within a community, which is why we make sure each of our projects have full buy-in from the people the water will serve. Moreover Lifewater’s projects include more than just a new well. Please visit our website to learn about the extensive process we undertake to ensure our projects are sustainable and provide lasting solutions for the community.
Please help us eradicate this serious, life-threatening problem by joining us in making a donation as well as joining us in pray. Lifewater International is a top-rated charity in the United States and is endorsed by independent reporting organizations, including Guidestar, ECFA, and Charity Navigator.
Source:unesco.org/en/articles/imminent-risk-global-water-crisis-warns-un-world-water-development-report-2023
Why Clean Water Must Include “WASH”
Providing communities with clean, safe water is only a part of the process. In order to ensure a community’s water source remains safe and people are healthy, there needs to be sanitation solutions. This includes access to toilets and the ability to properly wash hands.
When Lifewater International designs water solutions for remote villages, we follow the WHO’s international guidelines that state a village’s water source must be within 1 km from homes and have a 30 minute waiting time or less. If travel is involved, it must be doable for every community member, from the very young to the elderly and disabled. In schools the water must be on the school grounds.
Lifewater also follows the United Nations’ Water Access, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) initiative, which virtually eliminates waterborne disease. It states the three goals of water access, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) all play a foundational role in improving life for the rural poor and must be implemented together to be successful. While clean, safe water improves health and enables people to prosper; it also requires hygiene and sanitation practices to be sustainable. Lacking WASH’s critical healthy habits, a community’s new water source will likely become contaminated, thereby subjecting families to the same hardships they experienced before they had safe water.
To ensure lasting transformation, every Lifewater project includes our staff working together with local community health promoters to share the importance of our Healthy Homes program and the way it allows villagers to take charge of their health. Part of the program includes teaching people how hand washing stops the spread of disease as well as showing them how to construct simple devices to properly wash.
Under WASH, the village learns the danger of openly using the toilet and how the practice is directly linked to increased illness and even death among the community. The UN states 12% of the world’s population still practices open defecation, and at least 2 billion people still drink from a water source contaminated with feces, which can contain dangerous pathogens that make people sick.
While waterborne disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five, once people get access to safe water and learn how to improve health; waterborne illness is virtually eradicated. Families spend less money on medical care, have more time to invest in their futures, and their children spend more time getting educated.
We know safe water is critical but maintaining that water point and taking ownership of it for generations is how the solution of the water crisis becomes a reality. Lifewater believes water, sanitation, and hygiene practices all serve to help communities realize greater health and a more complete understanding of their God-given dignity and the ability to thrive. Join us in helping to eradicate waterborne diseases and save lives. Please make a one-time donation or become a monthly donor.