Do Water Organizations Save Lives?

You may have heard of a plethora of water organizations through which you can donate clean water to those in need, but do they really make a difference? Can these organizations and their work save lives?

Consider the following:

• The United Nations reports “about 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year.”¹
• According to the World Bank, 65 percent of the world’s poor in some way relies on agriculture for their livelihoods.² They need water for their crops and livestock in order to earn a living and feed their families.
• In developing regions such as sub-Saharan African, as much as two-thirds of the population relies on surface water from sources such as rivers or lakes, which are often unsafe to drink.³ Many water sources in developing regions contain fecal matter, arsenic or other pollutants.⁴ UNICEF estimates 68 to 84 percent of water sources in South Asia are contaminated.⁵

• Drinking contaminated water can lead to numerous water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, polio, dysentery and diarrhea.
• According to the World Water Council, “Water-related diseases are the most common cause of illness and death among the poor of developing countries.”⁶
• “Some 1.8 million people die every year of diarrheal diseases like cholera,” says Koshland Science Museum. “Tens of millions of others are seriously sickened by a host of water-related ailments—many of which are easily preventable.”⁷
• The World Health Organization estimates 829,000 people will “die each year from diarrhoea as a result of unsafe drinking-water, sanitation, and hand hygiene.” They also estimate “the deaths of 297,000 children aged under 5 years could be avoided each year if these risk factors were addressed.”⁸