The Need
In India, 128 million people lack safe water. The World Bank estimates that 21 percent of all communicable diseases are related to unsafe drinking water. Water-related diseases affect millions, mostly children, and women spend their days collecting water instead of working, growing food or caring for their children.
Many people who lack clean drinking water live in poverty in remote areas. They travel for hours, walking barefoot across dirt roads to collect water for their families. But the water they bring home is often life destroying. It carries dangerous bacteria that can make everyone sick.
Unsafe water is filled with disease! Families drink water that is often contaminated with:
- Salmonella Typhi
- Hepatitis A
- Vibrio Cholerae
- E. Coli
The water is not safe to drink, but it is often their only option. When children get sick, families must spend what little money they have to take the sick child to a doctor in town and buy medicine. One trip will usually cost several days of wages. Unsafe water creates a vicious cycle, which causes sickness and keeps people entrenched in poverty.
"The dirty water makes us sick—our kids are suffering.”
