IMPORTANCE OF CLEAN WATER
The World Health Organization reports that "over 2 billion people live in water-stressed countries" that have contaminated drinking water sources.
"Microbiologically contaminated drinking water can transmit diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio and is estimated to cause 485,000 diarrheal deaths each year.... Absent, inadequate, or inappropriately managed water and sanitation services expose individuals to preventable health risks."
CLEAN WATER IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
According to Unicef, "infectious diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria are the leading killers of children under age 5." (https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/...)
WaterAid.org reports that "one in 10 [people in the world] don't have clean water close to home" (771 million people).
(WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme 2021)
In addition, "diarrhoea caused by dirty water and poor toilets kills one child under the age of five every two minutes."
(Based on Pruss-Ustun et al. (2014) and The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (2018))
Clean water not only improves overall health by reducing disease, but helps local economies and contributes greatly to reducing poverty.
"Every $1 invested in water and toilets returns an average of $4 in increased productivity"
(WHO, 2012)