Though we’ve seen an increase in awareness about the global water crisis,
it's still the number 1 killer of children around the globe. Almost one billion
people do not have access to safe water globally and 2.5 billion lack the
dignity of basic sanitation. Yes, we fight malaria but poor sanitation
increases breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. We spend millions
making sure HIV/AIDS patients get the anti-retroviral drugs they need, but they
take these drugs with disease-ridden water. Current U.S. funding for water and
sanitation development amounts to less than one one-hundredth of a percent of
the federal budget. Yet for every dollar invested, there's an economic return
of $8. Not prioritizing the global water crisis defies logic. It prevents
productivity, increases poverty and inequality for women. There is much work
being done to prevent this problem by people all around the world so why is
this crisis still so enormous and development work only a drop in the bucket?
Because what's missing is not the know-how or technology, and certainly not the
need; it's the sense of urgency and prioritization.
I wasn’t aware that contaminated
water was the number one killer of children around the world. I also wasn’t
aware of how much women are depended on in other countries to go fetch water
for their families. They sometimes have to walk miles just to find clean water
and then turn around and carry it all the way back. I have to ponder the same
question after reading this article, why this crisis is still so enormous that
development work is only a drop in the bucket, but I guess it would be because
areas with contaminated water are either underdeveloped poor countries or they
are places near big polluting businesses. Things like oil spills or lack of
knowledge on how to clean water are issues that can and should be fixed. I think
there is a simple solution, there is no complex “it takes more than that”
answer, the answer is rather simple, teach those who need to be taught about
water sanitation. Many organizations are trying to help underdeveloped
countries with this problem, but that’s obviously not enough. Instead of
teaching kids useless information for standardized tests, we need to be
teaching them about problems such as these and ways to help solve them.
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