Dirty Water

Right now, imagine your daily life without clean drinking water.

Instead of going to the faucet every day and clean, crisp water pouring

out, you go to the creek and scoop up the murky water filled with bacteria.

For many of us, this is hard to picture simply because we’ve never had to

drink water from that type of water source. However, this summer, I took

a mission trip to Haiti. While I was there we were provided clean drinking water per request, but no one that lives inside of the country is that lucky. One day, a little boy came up to me and was begging for water, but I couldn’t give him the water I was drinking because if all the other children saw it they would expect to get water from me as well. This broke my heart and made me realize that something must be done about the water quality, and how it is unavailable to third world countries. Some may say that we have problems inside of our own country dealing with water and sanitation that we should focus on, but our problems don’t measure up to those outside of the country. There are so many problems with clean water availability, the harm that not having clean water has on the human body and what is being done to solve the water crisis.

There are many problems that are caused by countries not having access to clean and safe drinking water. 1 in 10 people lack access to safe water. The water crisis is also the number one global risk based on impact to society as measured in January of 2015 ("Facts About Water & Sanitation"). This is a problem in third world countries because they are using the same water source for everything that they do. Not only do they drink from water that they get from creeks that flow in their villages, they also bathe in that water, wash their vehicles, and some even use the water source as a bathroom. One third of the global population lives without a toilet. In fact, more people have a mobile phone than have a toilet. This causes bacterial infections, and causes disease such as Cholera and Dysentery. Some villages are lucky enough to have clean water provided through water wells, but many must travel long distances to reach them. Having to fetch water from the limited resources restricts residents of communities from doing everyday tasks. For example, “Reductions in time spent collecting water have been found to increase school attendance” ("Facts About Children, Women & The Safe Water Crisis"). Women and young girls often spend 6 hours a day collecting water. This restricts them from going to school and getting the education that they need. Those of us that don’t live in third world countries, or places without clean water really take for granted just how important it is to have access to clean drinking water.

Having to drink bacteria filled water is very harmful to the human body. Many people die each year due to bacteria filled water. “In developing countries, about 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions. 1 out of every 5 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease. Clean and safe water is essential to healthy living” (“Health and Water”). While I was on my mission trip to Haiti, we visited a hospital to pray over the patients. For most of them, they were placed in the hospital for reasons related to water-related disease. Most waterborne diseases are found in developing countries such as Haiti because they don’t have filters or anything that can kill out the organisms living in the water. In Haiti, 1 million people are exposed to water borne diseases (“War Against Unclean Drinking Water”.

Water also costs more in third world countries, so many people can’t afford clean water. In Haiti, we drank out of small bags filled with purified water or bottled water. This costs about 1.50 per water bottle which is a lot when converted to Haitian currency. In the article, Water for Africa, it states that many people in the country must go about their daily lives with 20 liters of water per day. That is comparable to a 1-5-minute shower that we may take (“Water for Africa”). This fact shows that those that don’t live in third world countries take for granted the clean water that is provided, even if it is just through taking a shower.

Improvements are beginning to be made in third world countries to provide clean water to the people who live there. Water wells are being built to bring clean water to communities so that they will have sanitary water. Now, instead of walking miles in search of clean water, people can walk just a few minutes. From an article on the waterprject.org, I found that wells are dug with machines and are completely sealed with a concrete pad so the water stays clean and can be consumed without any treatment (“The Water Project”). The entire community benefits from the clean water wells. When communities have water wells in place, students can attend school and have much more time to focus on education and homework. Women can also hold jobs to help support their families now that all their time isn’t taken up by having to walk to get water. “More than 500 people get water daily from water wells. Some use it for drinking, cooking or laundry. The water from some of the wells are also able to be used for missionaries” (“Water for Bois-de-Lance”). There are other ways to help solve this problem such as donating to organizations that set up water wells.

Often, people say that we should focus on problems inside of our own country first, however when it comes to water, this is not the case. “663 million people lack access to clean, safe water” (“Water and Sanitation”). There are people dying and becoming severely ill due to drinking water which is a necessity in life. It is not fair that we can go to the faucet and get purified, clean water while they must walk miles to get dirty, bacteria filled water to quench their thirst. People also say that there are diseases in the US that should be treated before the diseases outside of the country, but there are more effective ways to treat disease in the US. For Americans, clean water is everywhere. It is in the gas stations, it comes out of water fountains, we can even wash and bathe in clean water. For third world countries, it is not as easy to be provided with clean water.

It is clear to see that improvement must continue for this issue. Not only is it effecting those who live inside of the country, it effects those of us who go on mission trips to these third world countries and travel to areas that don’t have access to clean water. There are many organizations that sponsor water wells in these countries to ensure that clean water becomes available to all who live in poorer communities. If something is not done, the waterborne diseases and bacteria will continue to make residents of third world countries very ill and sometimes cause death. There must be something done to improve clean water availability in third world countries.

Works Cited

“Facts About Children, Women, and the Safe Water Crisis.” Water.org, 2017.

http://water.org/water-crisis/women-children-facts/. 16 Feb. 2017.

“Facts About Water and Sanitation.” n.d. Water.org, 2017.

http://water.org/water-crisis/water-sanitation-facts/. 13. Feb. 2017.

“Health and Water.” n.d. Thewaterproject.org, 2017.

https://thewaterproject.org/why-water/health. 16. Feb. 2017

“Installing the Well.” n.d. thewaterproject.org, 2017.

https://thewaterproject.org/installing-the-well. 21. Feb. 2017

“War Against Unclean Drinking Water” n.d. 26. Nov. 2010

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/11/04/hendley.heroes.water/index.html. 22. Feb. 2017

“Water for Bois-de-Lance.” n.d. haitiwaterproject.com. 2017