Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Unsafe water affects 900 million people
Massachusetts attorney Thomas M. Kiley, http://www.tomkileylaw.com, concentrates on legal issues regarding children’s health. A recent UNICEF report shows that every day, 4,200 children die of water-related diseases.
The report, says there are 2.5 billion people who lack access to improved sanitation facilities, and 900 million people, many of whom are children, don’t have access to safe drinking water, that could carry deadly diseases.
Young children are more vulnerable than any other age group to the ill effects of unsafe water, insufficient quantities of water, poor sanitation and lack of hygiene. Globally, more than 125 million children under ?ve years of age live in households without access to an improved drinking-water source. More than 280 million children under ?ve live in households without access to improved sanitation facilities. Of those, a total of 10.5 million children under the age of ?ve die every year, with most of these deaths occurring in developing countries. Lack of safe water, sanitation and adequate hygiene contribute to the leading killers of children under ?ve, including diarrheal diseases, pneumonia, neonatal disorders and under nutrition.
Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many other serious repercussions. Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because their schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities. Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, health systems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer. Without water, sanitation and hygiene, sustainable development is impossible.
UNICEF’s goal is to cut the number of people without sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation in half by 2015. UNICEF is working in 90 countries to change those conditions for children. More than 1.2 billion people gained access to improved drinking water between 1990 and 2004 through UNICEF’s efforts, and about 1.2 billion gained access to improved sanitation facilities.
The UNICEF WASH program works to improve water supplies and sanitation facilities and communities. The programs promotes safe hygiene practices.
With another project, called the Tap Project, restaurants ask their patrons to donate $1 or more for the tap water they usually get for free. All funds raised go to the UNICEF programs to bring clean and accessible water to millions of people. The Tap Project started in 2007 and by 2008, over 2,300 restaurants had signed up to take part.
For each $1 raised a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days. For each dollar spent on water and sanitation projects, the return on investment is from $3 to $34. Donations raised during last year's Tap Project funded a variety of lifesaving projects—including $323,094 for water access improvements in densely populated villages in Cote d'Ivoire; $139,500 for sanitation improvement in Nicaragua; $139,500 for emergency response and water, environment and sanitation capacity-building in Iraq; and $69,750 for school sanitation and clean water projects in the Toledo region of Belize. The balance of funds went towards smaller water and sanitation projects around the globe.
Next week is UNICEF’s World Water Week, from March 22-28. In 1992 the United Nations General Assembly declared March 22nd of each year as World Water Day. Countries are invited to devote the day to the conservation and development of water resources. As a result, conferences, round tables, seminars and exhibitions are held worldwide to promote public awareness of this global issue.
In 2009, the UN World Water Day theme is “Shared Water–Shared Opportunities.” Special focus will be placed on transboundary waters, the waters that cross borders and link people together.
