The need
Clean water is essential for life, but 11% of the world's population does not have access to it. This, and lack of safe sanitation,
An unsafe water source in Madagascar.
Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti
result in 700,000 children dying from water-related diseases every year.
The lack of clean water means millions of women and children spend hours each day searching for water and carrying it home. This exhausting task can cause damage to their heads, necks and spines, and leaves them with little time for productive work or education.
Sanitation can be defined as access to safe, clean and effective human urine and feces disposal facilities. Worldwide, 2.5 billion people live without this essential service and the resulting diarrheal diseases kill 2,000 children a day.
Regular handwashing is vital in stemming the spread of disease.
Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti
To gain the full benefits of safe water and sanitation communities also need to know about the links between diseases and unsafe hygiene practices. Hygiene education focuses on issues such as personal hygiene - the simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce diarrheal diseases by a third.
Poor sanitation and bad hygiene can result in the contamination of water sources with millions of disease causing micro-organisms. These micro-organisms work in different ways to incapacitate infected individuals.
Unsafe water and sanitation trap families by poverty by reducing their ability to earn money, incurring healthcare costs, and disrupting education.
In developing countries poor water and sanitation affects the lives of women and children the most. It impacts on women's time, health, education and family relations.
Without safe water and sanitation, life for children in developing countries can be very hard. They are often at risk from disease and are unable to attend school.
Safe water sources mean seniors can maintain their independence.
Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti
Problems for the elderly
In many of the countries where WaterAid works life expectancy is frighteningly low. Those who do live into old age face increasing problems as collecting heavy loads of water and finding privacy to go to the toilet puts further strains on their health.
Problems for the disabled
The struggle to gain access to clean, safe water and basic sanitation facilities is even greater for those contending with physical disability. Collecting water is so much harder, and often impossible, for those in wheelchairs, the blind or simply frail and infirm as a result of illness or old age.
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Bangladesh
Life without water and toilets
Ruby lives in Balar Math, an overcrowded informal settlement in Bangladesh's capital city Dhaka. There are no water or sanitation facilities here.
Her life is very challenging, as she described:
"This slum has existed for 10 years and is in a shocking state. Hanging latrines feed straight into a garbage-filled ditch in the middle of the slum. Five thousand households live here with no clean water and no sanitation. There are old handpumps but they are not deep enough and the sinking water table means that only a small amount of water can be drawn from them each day.
"Many people get very ill here and I think it all stems from the open latrines. Smell the stench, it’s disgusting. We get fevers, coughs and terrible diarrhea and there are no healthcare facilities that we can use. We spend lots of time bringing water from a handpump about 20 minutes' walk away. You have to queue for at least two hours to get the water.
"I earn between 500-1000 taka per month and I have to spend about 100 taka on water. At least we are surviving. Our biggest fear is that we get evicted from the slum by the government.’’
Photo: WaterAid / Abir Abdullah