Clean Water for a Healthy World

Water is the most urgent need of the global poor. 

On World Water Day this year -- March 22nd, 2011 -- we must take time out to remember the 4,500 children who die each day for a lack of access to clean, safe water.

In rural villages, children walk an average of 3.5 miles every day to fetch water from a smelly mudhole. Over 50% of the world’s hospital beds are filled with patients who suffer from water-borne illness.  Clean water access is the very first step -- a foundation for life, health, education and opportunity.

http://giveh2o.org/

Since I began studying and living in a third world country battling poverty and its social ramification a year ago, one burning question has consumed me: What is the most I can do as one person?

Of course government and business, if directed properly, could both help the global poor in a big way. Real leaders in these areas must pursue clear property rights and rule of law while promoting sustainable growth through trade and commerce. But for those of us who are everyday citizens, not currently elected leaders or multinational executives, what is our best way to serve the poorest?

We must develop ‘best practices’ from successful water projects. Further, we must create integrated solutions that create impact through a multi-faceted approach.  In a few years, we will see highly innovative rural projects that center on clean water access while transforming the entire village. Effective charities can build many other capacities around a water well, training the community in well maintenance and repair, teaching hygiene and sanitation, and providing needed vitamins and medicine.

Among other big players, the Gates Foundation is investing heavily each year into building water and sanitation projects, as well as discovering ways that the most effective solutions can be replicated on a global scale.  What’s incredible is that while Gates gives away a few billion dollars each year, the generosity of individual Americans is nearly 100 times larger, some $230 billion in annual charity comes from all the ‘little guys’ rather than corporate or foundation grants.

What does this mean for us? Thoughtful public giving can change the world many times faster than the biggest headline donors. We are in fact ‘the change’ for the world, and it is our duty to become informed global philanthropists.  It is up to us to change lives with clean water. For the price of lunch -- only $10 -- I can give one person access to clean water for a lifetime. If just one in ten Americans gave $150 to clean water, we could solve half of the most urgent crisis of the global poor, giving clean water to 500 million people.

Water is the most urgent need of the global poor. In memory of the thousands who die each day from unsafe water, please seek out a great water charity, spread the word, and change lives today.

 

World Water Day is March 22. Visit http://giveh2o.org/ to Pledge to End the Water Crisis