WHY CLEAN WATER?

Water is life, and clean water is at the core of sustainable development. Water and sanitation projects are deeply interwoven with other sustainable development goals. Improving access to clean water increases a child’s ability to stay in school instead of walking miles to collect water every day. Improving sanitation also improves health and reduces the risk of waterborne or diarrheal diseases. Building new wells and water collection systems provide jobs within communities. And finally, increased access to water can help provide economic and agricultural sustainability.

Water-related facts:

• 4.2 billion people lack safely managed sanitation services.
• 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services.
• By 2025, 1.8 billion people are expected to be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity
• 279,000 children under five die every year from diarrheal diseases.
• About 40% of the global population–3 billion people–do not have a handwashing facility with soap and water at home.
• Reducing the time it takes to fetch water from 30 to 15 minutes increased girls’ school attendance by 12% according to a study in Tanzania.