Millions go without clean water

Millions go without clean water
Drip, drip, drip. That's the sound of precious water going down the drain. Have you ever imagined what it would be like if one day you turned on the tap and there was no water?

This is a reality for nearly a billion people in the developing world.

We take it for granted in New Zealand that we have clean, safe drinking-water each time we turn on the tap.

But water is becoming a scarce commodity around the world and we are beginning to realise that maybe we should be conserving this precious resource.

Safe drinking-water in not available in many countries around the world.

On a recent overseas trip to Dubai, my parents became sick from drinking the local water. Even brushing your teeth in dirty water can cause sickness.

Nearly 80 per cent of illnesses in developing countries are linked to dirty water and half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people suffering from a water-borne disease.

Children are a main victim as a quarter of deaths under the age of 5 worldwide are due to a water-related disease.

A child dies every 15 seconds from lack of clean water.

Children exposed to water sources that have been contaminated by bacteria catch diseases such as cholera, which often causes life-threatening diarrhoea.

Perhaps this is why many countries export bottled water around the world.

Who would have imagined 20 years ago that aisles of bottled water would exist in supermarkets?

It is estimated that bottled water is 2000 times more expensive than tap water.

Yet people in the US buy more than half a billion bottles a week.

In fact, one-third of the bottled water in the United States actually comes from the tap.

The manufacturing of plastic bottles consumes a lot of oil and energy. The amount of oil that is used is enough to fuel over a million cars.

And where do all the plastic bottles end up once we have finished with them?

Eighty per cent of them go into landfills, where they will sit for thousands of years, or are burnt in incinerators, releasing toxic pollution.

Water is a precious resource; there is no life without water.

If we want to live, we must have clean, safe drinking-water, which millions of people in the world are living without.

Most people without access to clean water live right above it, but in many cases the only thing preventing access to it is money.

There are many projects set up to help these people get access to clean drinking-water; some can provide water for one person for more than 10 years for just $10.

Just remember to make wise water choices, wherever in the world you may be.

Lauren Stretton, Year 10, St Cuthbert's College