Background
The Current Situation
Today, over 1 billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. Annually 1.8 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera. Tragically, most of these cases are children under 5 due to their weaker immune systems. 88% of these deaths is due to unsafe water supply, inadequate sanitation and hygiene - which are interlinked issues.
Yes that's right - 1.8 million deaths per year. In the worst plane disaster in history, the Tenerife airport disaster in 1977, approximately 600 people perished. In the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, nearly 3000 people died. In the Tsunami disaster of 2004, around 250,000 people were killed by the killer waves. In all these cases, the entire nation and people worldwide were grieving over these deaths and wide publicity was given to these incidents.
Yet, for these 1.8 million people who die annually from unsafe drinking water, there is hardly any publicity and not many people are aware of it
Have you ever given a thought about these figures? 1.8 million deaths per year is equivalent to 3000 Tenerife airport disasters, 600 9/11 diasters and over 7 times the fatalities of the 2004 killer tsunami of 2004?
But perhaps the most tragic aspect of these 1.8 million deaths annually is that they are largely PREVENTABLE. These 1.8 million people need not die annually. Our team has therefore resolved to find out how we can educate our readers and suggest possible solutions to provide safe access to drinking water for everyone in this world. We are targetting readers 12 years and above to raise awareness of this global issue
Understanding The Issues
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COMPLEX ISSUES
Providing safe access to drinking water for everyone in this world is a very complex issue. To do so, we will need to understand some underlying issues involved. They are:
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Basic, General Facts of Water
General facts of water including some interesting properties and how water is utilised for our lives
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Sources of Water
Where are our sources of water on this planet and the distribution of this precious resource?
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Global Issues
Discusses the scale of the current water problem and the many global issues linked to water including the United Nations Goals such as the Millennium Development Goals, the fundamental human right to safe water as well as many interlinked issues such as water scarcity, poverty, sanitation and other issues
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Treatment of Water
How water is treated and brought to the public. Technology and new technologies in purifying water and piping water to masses are discussed
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Water Distribution Systems
How water is brought from the source or water treatment source to the masses
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Water Quality
Discusses the importance of water quality and how water quality is affected by various issues including pollution. How safe is water for drinking purposes is also a water quality issue
Citations & References
For Section "The Current Situation"
References
http://www.drinking-water.org/html/en/index.html
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/facts2004/en/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_disaster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_terrorist_attacks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
Images
Banner pictures courtesy of Abu Bakar from Ghana, friend of coach Mr Low, who took the photos and provided them to coach Mr Low
