The #1 Killer of Humans is Unsafe Water
The recent increase in fear of climate change has stimulated paranoia amongst people; however, they tend to forget an on-going issue of unequal access to clean water. Water is a crucial need for all living organisms. Not only does it satisfy your thirst, but it also boosts energy, aids digestion, detoxifies toxins, etc. Since water plays a major role in homeostasis, a human’s body is approximately 60%water. Hence, drinking clean water every day is important to the health of humans. However, water is very scarce. The Earth is covered in 71% of water, but of the 70%, only 3% is fresh water. Of the 3% of fresh water, a whopping 2.5% is stored in glaciers, soil, and the atmosphere. As a result, there is only 0.5% of available fresh water to go around for the increasing 7.5 billion human population. Evidently, the lack of available fresh water makes water to be even more valuable and important to have access to.
Since humans can not live without water, humans across the world must have equal access to clean drinking water. Unfortunately, according to Global Water Dances, roughly one person out of every 8, do not have access to clean water. As a result, this conflict can lead to more detrimental issues such as disease and lack of sanitation because water is also used for drinking, cooking, bathing, hand-washing, and growing their food. Sadly, most victims are female because they are the ones who bear the burden to haul water for an estimated 200 million hours a day; moreover, girls are more vulnerable to lack of hygiene since they need to maintain their menstrual health. Additionally, unsafe water is extremely deadly because it kills more humans every year than all forms of violence, including war! Therefore, having equal access to clean water is imperative to human well being. The United Nations even recognized “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights”.
I have personally witnessed this detrimental issue when I traveled with my dad. My father participates in a program similar to Doctors Without Borders, so I had the opportunity to travel to third world countries almost every year since I was 8 years old. Since I grew up first-hand witnessing third world issues while living in a first world country, I noticed very unfortunate differences. The first issue I noted was the dirty water. My dad would bring suitcases of packaged water and sternly warned me to only drink water from the packages. At the time I never understood why. When I was in Jutiapa, Guatemala, a kind family offered me a cup of water while I was babysitting the children of my father’s patients. The water was a murky color and contained bits of unknown components sitting at the bottom of the cup. I ended up kindly declining the offer, but I felt sorrowful because I finally understood my dad’s warning. A similar situation occurred when I went to Chennai, India, but this time, a child was offering me unsafe water. Whenever I came back to the States, I felt guilty but grateful for being able to drink clean water as I wished.
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| Ryan at well with Child in Uganda |
Questions:
1) What do you think life is like without clean drinking water?
2) Have you ever taken your easy access to clean water for granted?
Sources:
https://myhero.com/RYAN_HRELJAC
https://globalwaterdances.org/water/water-issues/
https://www.usbr.gov/mp/arwec/water-facts-ww-water-sup.html
https://www.worldvision.org/clean-water-news-stories/global-water-crisis-facts
https://www.everydayhealth.com/water-health/water-body-health.aspx
30 comments:
Without clean drinking water life would be terrible. We would be dehydrated and not only that we would be consumed by the fear of what we can and cannot drink. I think anyone with clean drinking water has taken their access to clean drinking water for granted. Sometimes, we as a lucky and privileged society forget that we have so many things to be thankful for. One of those things being clean water. We forget that when we take a sip of water or we leave the water running while we brush that there are people around the world dying because they don’t have access to purified drinking water. Awesome blog! Good job Junna! :)
Life without clean drinking water would be very hard. For example, you would be exposed to harmful chemicals in the water leading to deadly diseases like cholera. To add on, most individuals in third world countries are forced to drink from the contaminated river or body of water in order to live because water is a necessity; they have no choice. Many people also have to travel large distances in order to get a water source and pumping the water is not an easy process. I have taken easy access to clean water for granted. For example, I take extra long showers in the winter, essentially wasting water, or I tend to leave the water running whenever I brush my teeth.
I believe that I have often taken my access to clear water for granted. However, when I visit India, I come to the realization that I should be more thankful. In my hometown in India, the general tap water is extremely unsafe to drink, and it has to be filtered in a reverse osmosis filter at home. In the villages, however, there is often a lack of even the RO filter, and many fall sick from the dirty water.
Life without clean drinking water would be very hard. I definitely think I have taken it for granted, and others like me too, because clean drinking water is not something I think I have to worry about. However, as I grew up and went to India more frequently, I began to see the impact it had on the people there. My parents made sure I always drank bottled or boiled water only, I wasn't allowed to swim, and I also wasn't allowed to eat any street food that was heavily water based. At first I didn't know why, but I came to realize how unsafe it was. I think it's very important to realize that what we view as a given, there are many who do not have it.
Life without fresh water would be hard, indeed. I have taken my access to clean drinking water for granted at times- where we live fresh water is just a given. However, my experience with learning to appreciate water was similar to Saee’s in that whenever my family visited India I was only allowed to drink bottled or filtered water, and I wasn’t allowed to eat street food (which often uses rain water) or swim in any public pool. Over the years, these experiences made me realize that water is a precious commodity and made me grateful that I am fortunate enough to have access to clean water.
Life without clean drinking water is not life at all. Water is a main source of life, and I find it upsetting that not everyone has access to clean water every day. I agree with you that skills, instead of plainly handing out resources, is more effective long term because generations of people can benefit rather than a single village. I sometimes do take clean water for granted, but whenever I travel domestically or abroad, I can plainly see that not everyone has access to something as simple as a cold glass of water. Likewise, when I went to India, I got very sick because I accidentally drank unfiltered water when I was camping in Jim Corbett National Park. The place was so beautiful and so close to nature, I forgot about the drinking the bottled water my family kept. Soon, I realized how lucky I was to drink clean water, and the importance of spreading it to people without access to it.
Living without clean water would be terrible. We would not be able to survive from not having a sufficient amount of water. Water is a key part to every living things life. If the Earth did not have clean drinking water, then we would see the population decrease due to the lack of water. Every time I go to India, I see how lucky I am to have clean water at every faucet. In India, I have to drink bottled water or boil my water, so I don’t fall sick. I have come to realize how good I have it compared to others around the world.
Since our society, as in the people in Flower Mound, are only used to clean, purified water, we commonly forget about how fortunate we are to have access to all these luxuries. After reading your blog, I now realize how great our lives are compared to the people in third world countries. Knowing that I could not live a week without clean water, I could not image how difficult it would be to live a life without access to clean water. In conclusion, I believe that everyone should understand the real value of clean water before overusing it.
Yes I have taken my easy access to cleAn water for granted especially when I take a shower or use the sink. I would take long showers that would take 20 minutes when I could take 5-10 minute showers to decrease water usage and also bills. Also I would sometimes leave the sink on whenever I brush my teeth when I could just use it when I need to. I can get why some people do take it for granted because it can become a habit and you could use a ton of clean water for no reason. A few years ago I’ve started to think about how much water I use throughout my daily life.
I couldn’t even imagine living my life having to worry about whether or not I’ll have access to clean water or not. It’s sad to see how so many people around the world fail to have access to it and struggle everyday. A couple of years ago when I visited Pakistan my family and I had to bring in packs of bottled water with us because if we drank the water there we would get sick. I think it is important for everyone to try to conserve water as much as possible in order to help those who are less fortunate.
Life without clean water would be terrible. People who have the privilege to receive clean water take water for granted and waste it on a daily basis. While in Africa people are dying by drinking the dirt they use to cook, wash clothes, drink, and do the dishes. We especially use water for granted when we are showing for washing the dishes. I personally am a lazy person so I keep the water on when I shower, which I shouldn’t. I think I should be fore wise about using clean water.
I never really think about how lucky I am to have clean water whenever I want, because its so widespread. Or at least that’s what i thought, but so many countrys all around the world see water as a luxury rather than a basic nessesity for human survival. I really like how you included the percentage of water is able to drink on planet Earth, it really was an eye opener. I am not able to put my self in those poor souls shoes who don’t have access to clean water, it just doesn’t seem right to not be able to have something that you will die if you do not get. In my history class we read about indentured servants who had to live in horrible conditions while completing their voyage across the ocean. The only water they could drink was black and had bugs in it, there are quotes from those servants saying that even with a dying thirst they couldn’t drink it. That is happening to kids and adults all over the world today, especially Africa where they are forced to drink from streams that are homes for dangerous parasites and bugs that thirsty people will ingest.
I never really think about how lucky I am to have clean water whenever I want, because its so widespread. Or at least that’s what i thought, but so many countrys all around the world see water as a luxury rather than a basic nessesity for human survival. I really like how you included the percentage of water is able to drink on planet Earth, it really was an eye opener. I am not able to put my self in those poor souls shoes who don’t have access to clean water, it just doesn’t seem right to not be able to have something that you will die if you do not get. In my history class we read about indentured servants who had to live in horrible conditions while completing their voyage across the ocean. The only water they could drink was black and had bugs in it, there are quotes from those servants saying that even with a dying thirst they couldn’t drink it. That is happening to kids and adults all over the world today, especially Africa where they are forced to drink from streams that are homes for dangerous parasites and bugs that thirsty people will ingest.
I think that life without access to clean water would be very hard because we, as humans, need clean water to survive. Without access to clean drinking water, we would be exposed to many harmful chemicals, bacteria, and viruses. Furthermore, as seen in many third world countries, the average life expectancy drastically decreases in the absence of clean water. This further supports my point about how hard life without access to clean water.
I think that life without clean water is impossible. Water is an essential part of our survival and plays a part in almost every bodily function. If clean water was not available, we would all suffer from diseases from bacteria and chemicals in the water. I often take water for granted as I have rarely been in a position where I am required to use water sparingly. When I travel to India, where clean water is not as abundant, I realize that I should be grateful for the clean water I have in Flower Mound.
Without clean drinking water, our fundamentally basic actions in life amount to difficult tasks. Taking a shower? Cooking? Simply drinking a glass of water? Washing your clothes? These daily actions suddenly become more complicated than we are usually used to. Everyday, every single one of us takes advantage of clean running water, for we have started to take these type of commodities for granted in the developed nation we live in. Just in India, Punjab is getting closer and closer to a life without any water due to droughts and rerouting of rivers. This just provides more reason to be grateful for what we have, rather than what we need.
I think that life without clean drinking water would be very different from what it is today. For starters, the population would be much less than the current almost 8 billion. This is because unsafe and unclean drinking water leads to many diseases and would thus kill off a majority of the population. Because water is such a necessity in our everyday life, our lives would be in serious danger if we did not have clean and safe water to drink and use. I feel like up until this class I have taken my easy access to fresh water for granted. Unfortunately, I would have considered myself a water waster. I took long showers, which wastes water and I found myself leaving the sink running for longer than I should when doing daily activities like brushing my teeth or washing the dishes. I also took for granted the fact that I have clean water to drink everyday. When I got to the fridge to pour myself a drink, I did not think about where the water has come from and low lucky I am to have access to the scarce amount of freshwater left on Earth. However, ever since taking this class I have been better about wasting water. I changed my daily routines that use water like showering for a shorter period of time and turning the sink off when I brush my teeth. Also, whenever I drink water, I usually stop to think about how blessed I am to have such clean and fresh water for my everyday needs, while other parts of the world do not have enough fresh water.
Life without clean water is very difficult. We don’t even realize how much water we use each day in 1st world countries. We brush our teeth, wash dishes, water plants, take showers and etc. with clean water. Not having water means that people can not do many of these things that are can be very important for disease prevention. I do acknowledge that I take having clean water for granted. In my case, I should take 5 to 10 minute showers everyday.
I can’t even begin to imagine life without clean water, and that’s horrible! Half of the time, I don’t even think about all the water I use on a daily basis when kids around the world wish for even a little bit. I think most people in first world countries take clean water for granted because we’ve never had to struggle without it. It’s a constant in most of our lives, so we don’t know how much we have. This has been a reality check for a lot of us to consider what we have and be grateful for our lives in a place like Flower Mound where water is never something we have to worry about.
I can not imagine living without clean drinking water. I definitely take the quality of water i have for granted and never stop to think twice about how circumstances are in a country that clean water is not always readily accessible. If i really think about it I feel that I and many other probably waste a lot of water without ever giving it a second thought and i think that if we experienced a lifestyle where water was not as pristine, we would have a far different mindset when it comes to conservation and appreciation for the water we have and the lifestyle we live.
The beginning statistics you provided regarding the global distribution of water were really shocking to me. While I knew clean water was unavailable to many I did not realize the extent of the problem. In America, clean water is a very low-value commodity but is a much needed and rare resource in other parts of the world. Living without clean water would be very scary as you continually expose yourself to many diseases via bacteria. I would 100% say I take clean water for granted but will make a conscious effort to do better. I tend to leave the water running as a brush my teeth or put soap on my hands without realizing the value of what I am wasting.
I have absolutely taken my access to clean water for granted. The Earth has 70% of salt water and 2.5% of fresh water while there are 7.53 billion people sharing that tiny slice of pie. Living without clean water can seriously impact people’s life. When I went to Guadalajara for mission trip in 2018, our church mission team went to a village in Tepic to serve villagers. While we were serving, I noticed that people who were living in that village didn’t have any access water. The water that they were drinking was so polluted that our mission team members weren’t allow to touch it. Unfortunately, 1.6 million young African children die every year before their 5th birthday simply because they don’t have any access to clean water. In order to prevent this from happening, I believe that people should try to spend minimal amount of water possible.
I have for sure taken my access to clean water for granted. It’s not that I mean to its just that it’s easy to forget that even the most basic of necessities can be taken for granted. I imagine that life without clean water is very difficult. Not only are you exposed to various illnesses and disease, you are always on alert about whether the water you’re drinking is safe or not. I suppose there may be an argument that we have evolved to where drinking extremely dirty water might not affect us as much since we have kidneys that filter out “bad stuff”, but still, given the option I would like to drink clean water. Also, 1.6 million African children die every year since they don’t have access to clean water, so maybe our kidneys aren’t as effective at filtering as we may have originally thought.
Life without clean drinking water would be much less luxurious and would put things into perspective. Priorities would change in life. For example, you would be concerned about finding water that is clean or your family and not about other things such as school, things that we consider a necessity. Those necesites in our everyday life are considered luxuries and privileges in the lives of others. I have definitely taken clean water for granted in my life. For example, usually I like my water to be from a certain place like my house and don’t trust other water. Even though other water is filtered, in doesn’t taste the same to me. Things like the taste of certain clean waters is definitely not a necessity. I have taken the fact that I have clean water in general for granted. For people who do not have access not clean water, the way certain filtered waters taste would not matter to them. This shows how lucky and privileged I am to have access to clean water.
Well, first of all, I just want to say how eye opening this selection was. I was extremely surprised with the data presented,specifically the fact that almost thirteen percent of people do not have access to clean water. And with our population being around seven and a half billion, this percent is a very large number of people. This stat reminded me of how lucky we are in a first world country to be getting crystal clean water without the bat of an eye. This really showed how much we take the simplest thing, clean water, for granted.
Being privileged to live in an area where water is practically free leaves me only to imagine the horrendous consequences of living without clean water. Such consequences I assume would include frequent food poisoning and parasitic infections. From personal experiences visiting my father's village in India, I caught a small glimpse of what life may have been if not given access to clean water. Once a week a shipment of packaged clean water would come by to allow villagers access to such a privilege. Before, people had to boil water and take other precautionary steps to clean their water despite still having risk of contaminants. This experience taught me how I am very fortunate for access to clean drinking water from any faucet in my home.
I can definitely say that I have taken my access to clean water for granted. Frankly, I never even think about it or many of my other privileges, and I feel ashamed but also inspired to try to help this cause. Every human being deserves access to clean drinking water, especially now that we live in an age where technically it would be possible, with the help of technology and modern scientific knowledge, to supply this vital resource to all of this planets inhabitants. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without access to clean water- almost every part of my daily life relies on it. Now that I know a little bit more about the exact problem that is the lack of access to clean water across the globe, I feel determined that our generation, including myself, needs to do something about it. Thank you Junna for the article, it was really eye-opening!!!
I can’t even imagine not having easy access to clean water. The picture above of the boy drinking brown water is heartbreaking because I’ve never had to do something like that to survive. I’m sure people without clean water have to constantly live in fear of their health and the possibility of getting severely sick. I am definitely guilty of taking water for granted at times because I have thrown away unfinished water bottles and left water running longer than it needed to.
Globally, 785 million humans lack access to safe water and 2 billion people don’t have a toilet. Nearly 1 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene-related illnesses which may be reduced with access to secure water or sanitation. Lack of get right of entry to to secure water also influences the physical health of girls and youngsters who have no choice but to hold heavy vessels lengthy distances.
Safe drinking water is important to the development of a wholesome child. It means youngsters won’t enjoy water-borne ailments like typhoid. Diarrhea is certainly one of the pinnacle 3 main reasons of child dying and this is frequently caused from consuming unclean water. Further, each 2 minutes a toddler dies from a water-borne disease. Whether they are eating infected water or stricken by dehydration due to diarrhea, a scarcity of get right of entry to to safe water is responsible.
Being without access to clean water sounds like an unimaginable nightmare, yet so many people live like that around the world. Using and drinking contaminated water can lead to countless diseases from contaminates in the water. This makes me think that I do take my access to clean water for granted. I never really think about drinking water or showering when in reality someone without access to it would know how hard that is hard to acquire.
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