Water Crisis Solutions
In showing the love of Christ to those in need, GFA provides practical water crisis solutions.
Clean water and proper sanitation improves health, and reduces malnutrition, stress, and injuries and assaults on women and girls, who often travel far distances for water.1
The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched a plan to bring clean water and sanitation to countries worldwide. Though they have increased safe water supplies and sanitation in the last five years, their most recent study shows that rates of progress would have to quadruple to achieve their targeted “universal coverage” by 2030.2
At GFA, we believe micro-solutions have a big impact on solving the global water crisis. For many years, we’ve been demonstrating God’s love by providing Jesus Wells for villages to access clean water, BioSand filters to remove impurities from collected water, and basic sanitation facilities and hygiene education.
Wells
Villagers often walk over a mile roundtrip, just to reach a well that often runs dry or a contaminated river that makes them sick after drinking water from it. GFA has solved the pressing problem of waterborne diseases for 37.5 million people throughout Asia. It continues to build deep wells that can each freely provide clean water for up to 300 people.
Jesus Wells allow families to drink and use enough water to maintain health and hygiene, as well as clean and cook. Without wells, some people at a subsistence level can only access 5 liters a day for cooking, drinking and sanitation. The WHO recommends 50 liters as an “intermediate” quantity per person, while the average American uses 300-375 liters a day.3
Filters
Families who gather water from ponds, rivers or other water sources can use BioSand filters to remove 98% of impurities. When GFA distributes these filters, it allows families to drink clean water when wells aren’t nearby.
Sanitation facilities and education
Safe water is linked to how sewage and other wastewater is managed. About 80% of wastewater worldwide flows back into rivers, lakes and other water sources without being treated.4 This causes nearly 2 billion people to drink water contaminated with feces, which can cause severe illnesses. Providing proper toilets, like the ones GFA builds, prevents about 2.4 million deaths annually.
GFA ministries also teach families proper hygiene, like handwashing and water storage. Insects can transmit diseases, such as dengue fever. While some thrive in foul water, others breed in clean, household water containers. Teaching families to properly cover and store their clean water reduces insect-borne disease.
Learn more about the Global Water Crisis
1 Key Water.org Facts, for use in 2020-2021. Water.org. https://water.org/documents/184/FY21_Key_Water.org_facts.pdf.
2 “Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000-2020: Five Years into the SDGs.” Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). 2021. https://washdata.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/jmp-2021-wash-households.pdf.
3 “Water scarcity. A global crisis.” Rainmaker. https://rainmakerww.com/about-global-water-crisis/. Accessed November 12, 2021.
4 “Water Quality and Wastewater.” United Nations. https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/quality-and-wastewater/. 2021.