Water is necessary to sustain life. All life (plants and animals) must have water to survive. It is something we take for granted. We can just turn on a faucet and out comes water. We can shower with hot water. We swim in cool pools during hot summer months. Not everyone has this same access.
World Water Day, on March 22 every year, is about taking action to tackle the water crisis.Let’s take a moment to reflect …
Let’s take a moment to reflect. Look at these stats from a fact sheet on worldwaterday.org:
- Globally, over 80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused.
- 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with feces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio. Unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene cause around 842,000 deaths each year.
- 663 million people still lack improved drinking water sources.
- By 2050, close to 70% of the world’s population will live in cities, compared to 50% today. Currently, most cities in developing countries do not have adequate infrastructure and resources to address wastewater management in an efficient and sustainable way.
- The opportunities from exploiting wastewater as a resource are enormous. Safely managed wastewater is an affordable and sustainable source of water, energy, nutrients and other recoverable materials.
- The costs of wastewater management are greatly outweighed by the benefits to human health, economic development and environmental sustainability – providing new business opportunities and creating more ‘green’ jobs.
From Garrett Vickrey’s sermon on Sunday, March 19, 2017:
In developing nations women and girls are primarily responsible for collecting water; on average, 25 percent of their day is spent on this task. Collectively, South African women and children walk a daily distance equivalent to 16 trips to the moon and back to fetch water. If they spend this much their day just getting water imagine what they are not getting— education to improve their lives and the lives of their children. Today, there areover 663 million people living without a safe water supply close to home, spending countless hours trekking to distant water sources, and/or coping with the health impacts of using contaminated water. The children of God are thirsty; they don’t need to be. A few have improvised solutions to water crises. This Wednesday, March 22, is World Water Day. It’s a good day to consider a gift to an organization like Watering Malawi that provides access to clean water. God’s children are thirsty. Could we risk hitting the rock and seeing if water comes out?
Check out these resources to learn more and to help: