Seven-hundred and eighty million
people lack access to clean water, which
is more than 2.5 times the United States
population - resulting in a child dying of
a water-related illness every 21 seconds.
These numbers are astoundingly high
and even with comparisons like this, it’s
still tough to wrap my brain around the
statistic. Where I live in the United States,
people water their grass with cleaner
water than some people are forced to
drink in the world. I don’t understand why
some people live in surplus while others
exist without basic human necessities.
Why does grass/yards get cleaner water
than some humans and animals across
our globe?
RT
According to the United Nations, in
Africa, 90 percent of the work of gathering
water and wood is done performed by
women. And, women and girls spend up
to 6 hours every day fetching water. Six
hours?! Most of us complain about sitting
in traffic for an hour – in a comfortable
car with air conditioning or heat, mobile
technology allowing us to chat with
friends (don’t text and drive though) and
yet for 6 hours there are women and girls
who have no choice but to spend time
gathering water for bathing, for food and
for drinking. And, even with all of that
effort, is the water clean? I can only
hope so.
One very inspirational statistic is that
reducing the distance to a water source
from 30 minutes to 15 minutes increases
a girl’s school attendance by 12 percent
according to a study in Tanzania, Africa.
That’s amazing! I am so happy there
are people and organizations dedicated
to improving the lives of people and
reducing illnesses and death from waterrelated illnesses. To also learn that these
improvements have a direct correlation
to a girl’s ability to attend school … well,
that’s even better!
I am fortunate to have access to
water, to be able to shower, to have
proper waste removal (sewage) from my
home to keep me and my family safe.
But, I know that when even one family
without water and even one animal in
our ecosystem without access to clean
water, then it’s a problem that affects
us all. Just because some have access
to clean water doesn’t mean we should
close our eyes and minds to those who
are in need. We are in this world together
and so this fight belongs to all of us.
March 22 is World Water Day. Let’s
all do our part to keep our water systems
clean by not polluting, picking up trash
and limiting water use.
LMarelli
Liesl Marelli
Editor-in-Chief
@LBMarelli