10 Reasons You Should Care About Water - the essence of life - Week of October 29, 2007

10 Reasons You Should Care About Water - the essence of life


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In recognition of Rotary’s significant efforts to provide safe water and sanitation and its commitment to sustainable development worldwide, the United Nations Association of New York has honoured Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation of RI with its 2007 Humanitarian Award on 25 October, 2007.

We, as individual Rotarians, can help by getting directly involved. Share Rotary!

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International Decade for Action - Water for Life 2005-2015

In 2003, The United Nations General Assembly declared 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Action on "Water for Life," with a primary goal to promote efforts to fulfill international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015. These commitments include the Millennium Development Goal to reduce the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by half by 2015, and to stop unsustainable exploitation of water resources.

10 Reasons You Should Care About Water - the essence of life

1. Every 15 seconds, a child dies from drinking contaminated water. (Water Partners International, Kansas City, MO)

2. More than 2.2 million people, mostly in developing countries, die each year from diseases associated with poor water and unsanitary conditions. (WHO/UNICEF/WSSCC, 2000: V)

3. Only 1% of the total water resources on earth is available for human use. While 70% of the world's surface is covered by water, 97.5% of that is salt water. Of the remaining 2.5% that is fresh water, almost 68.7% is frozen in ice caps and glaciers. (UN-WWAP, 2006 : Fig. 4.1)

4. Water scarcity already affects every continent and more than 40% of the people on our planet. (http://www.unwater.org/flashindex.html)

5. There are 1.1 billion people, or 18% of the world's population, who lack access to safe drinking water. About 2.6 billion people, or 42% of the total, lack access to basic sanitation. (WHO/UNICEF, 2005 : 40)

6. By 2025, it is estimated that about two thirds of the world's population - about 5.5 billion people - will live in areas facing moderate to severe water stress. (UN, 1997 : 19)

7. The world's population is expected to increase to approximately 7.2 billion people by 2015. Almost 95% of the increase is expected to be in developing regions. (WHO/UNICEF, 2005 : 40)

8. In an industrialized city with plenty of water, flushing the lavatory in an average household can send up to 50 litres (13 gallons) of water down the drain every day. Yet more than one in six people worldwide - 1.1 billion - don't have access to 20-50 litres of safe freshwater daily, the minimum range suggested by the UN to ensure each person's basic needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning. (www.unwater.org)

9. About 90% of sewage and 70% of industrial wastes in developing countries are discharged into water courses without treatment, often polluting the usable water supply.

10. The economic payback from investing US$11.3 billion per year to reach the Millennium targets for drinking water and sanitation by 2015 is estimated to be US$ 84 billion. (WHO, 2004: 34)

Visit here for more water facts:

http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/factsheet.html - from the 'Water for Life' Fact Sheet and other sources.

Let’s Get Involved!

(Source: http://www.unanyc.org/events/water.html)