Did You Know

• 97 percent of the earth's water is saltwater. Only 1% of this water is drinkable the other 2% is frozen in ice caps and glaciers.
• Most frequent diseases are related to poor water supply.
• 884,000,000 people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly 1 in 8 of the world's population.
• 1,800,000 children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This means 4,931 die every day, 205 die every hour and 3 die every minute that means one child dies every 20 seconds.
• Cholera is a world-wide problem, especially in emergency situations, that can be prevented by access to safe drinking water, sanitation and good hygiene behaviors.
• About 6 million people are blind from Trachoma, a disease caused by the lack of water combined with poor hygiene practices. Studies found that providing adequate water supply could reduce the infection rate by 25%.
• About 200 million people are infected with Schistosomiasis, of which 20 million suffer severe consequences. Studies found that adequate water supply and sanitation could reduce infection rate by 77%.
• Intestinal worms infect about 10% of the population of the developing world and, depending upon the severity of the infection, lead to malnutrition, anemia or retarded growth.
• The simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce diarrheal diseases by over 40%.
• Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis.
• At any one time, half of the developing worlds hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-related diseases.
• The integrated approach of providing water, sanitation and hygiene reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrheal diseases by an average of 65%.
• Water and sanitation infrastructure helps give people the first essential step out of the cycle of poverty and disease.

References are from the following: US EPA, Unicef, British Medical Journal, WHO, Water Aid's, and UN