Did you know that one billion people lack access to clean water?
Lack of clean water spells disaster to those who suffer from it. With the threat of climate change, the problem is likely to worsen, unless something is done about it.
80% of diseases come from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation. It kills more than war and violence combined. Children are especially affected due to their lack of resistance to certain diseases and under five-year olds account for 90% of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions.
In July, the UN’s General Assembly declared that safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights so the issue is starting to receive the attention it deserves, even if the solution to the problem is far from being simple. The UN predicts that one tenth of the global disease burden can be prevented simply by improving water supply and sanitation. Can you imagine the amount of suffering and resources that could spared?
In the West, our appetite for animal foods takes a huge toll on the water supply. It takes, for instance, 16,000 liters of water to produce one kilo of beef. Switching to a vegetarian diet is one of the most effective and accessible ways to decrease our water footprint as it cut it by half (from about five to around two and half cubic meters per day).
The consumption of industrial products, whose manufacturing processes demand huge amounts of water, plays a huge role in the fact that the U.S. has one of the largest water footprints in the world, or 575 liters per day per household. Eat more naturally and you’ll be saving water.
There are many other actions we can take in our daily lives to decrease our water footprint: avoid bottled water (it takes seven liters for each liter), decrease paper consumption (10 liters per sheet), rationalize water at home (favor showers over baths, keep the tap off while cleaning etc) and just be generally mindful of the way you use water.
For more tips on how to save water, please go here. For more information on Blog Action Day 2010, please visit the official website.
