Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.
From Living Water International:
The United Nations Development Programme estimates the cost of meeting the MGD [Millennium Development Goal, to “reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.”] to be about $10 billion a year. Again, that is for water and sanitation for half of those lacking. They add that the figure “…represents less than five days’ worth of global military spending and less than half what rich countries spend each year on mineral water.”
I always check out charities on Charity Navigator and the BBB website prior to supporting an organization. I was unable to find any information about Charity:Water on either site. However I decided to include the link because there seems to be enough evidence of the good work that they do. They partner with many organizations, including Living Water International, and have received a lot of positive press. You can also view their completed projects in Google Earth. My guess is that they do not have a report with Charity Navigator or the BBB because they are such a young organization.
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