Waterless Places...

As I look out of my window, it's raining. In fact, the last few days have brought a lot of rain in Manchester. Yesterday I struggled to catch up with jobs in the garden because I needed to go inside to shelter from the rain. But, whilst I was having my power shower this morning, I couldn't help thinking about those places in the world where people struggle to get enough water to drink or to use for sanitation purposes.


Let’s consider some of the facts: one in eight of the world's population does not have access to clean water; in developing countries about 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions; over one-third of the world's population has no access to sanitation facilities; half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases; for too many people worldwide, dirty or diseased water leads to a cycle of sickness, lack of education, poverty and lost hope.


On September 20th 2010 world leaders will meet at the UN headquarters in New York to review the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were set out in 2000 to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty. It’s reassuring that organisations like WaterAid will be campaigning to show governments that without clean water and sanitation the MDGs will not be reached across large parts of the developing world.


Water and sanitation are human rights, vital to reducing poverty around the world. Together with good hygiene these essential services are the building blocks for all other development - improving health, education and livelihoods. It’s so easy to take water for granted. Sadly, many others in the world cannot.