The Global Water Crisis

• Posted by tim
• Last updated: Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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As Americans freely pay up to five dollars a bottle for designer water from exotic islands, there is a crisis occurring on a large part of our planet that eclipses even the energy crisis…. Consider the following:

The Global Water Crisis

3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease. (11)

43% of water-related deaths are due to diarrhea. (11)

84% of water-related deaths are in children ages 0 - 14. (11)

98% of water-related deaths occur in the developing world. (11)

884 million people, lack access to safe water supplies, approximately one in eight people. (5)

The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. (1)

At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease. (1)

Less than 1% of the world’s fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use. (12)

An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the typical person living in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.(1)

World Water Coverage. View larger map.

About a third of people without access to an improved water source live on less than $1 a day. More than two thirds of people without an improved water source live on less than $2 a day. (1)

Poor people living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city. (1)

Without food a person can live for weeks, but without water you can expect to live only a few days.(4)

The daily requirement for sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs, as well as for assuring survival, is about 13.2 gallons per person.(3)

Water projects in developing countries fail at an average rate of 50% or higher.