World Water Day March 22, 2012
Helping communities access clean, safe drinking water
21 March 2012
Feeling thirsty? Chances are you’ll hit the office water cooler or your kitchen tap to grab a quick glass of clear, safe drinking water.
Need the loo? You’ll use about 10 litres of water just to flush the toilet – about the same amount of water most people in the developing world use per day for drinking, bathing in and cooking with.
Every year 1.8 million people around the world die from diarrhea and cholera because they can’t access clean water and live with poor sanitation. Ninety percent of these deaths are children under the age of five.
As Australians, we can take it for granted that when we turn on our taps fresh water will be there for us to drink or bathe in. In some Asian and African countries, women will walk up to 6 kilometres each day to collect water for their family to drink, bathe in and cook with – and it’s usually from sources that make it unfit for human consumption.
March 22 is World Water Day when relief organisations such as UNWater focus attention on the importance of providing access to and sustainably managing fresh water resources around the world.
In support of World Water Day, Thornthwaite Technologies will be making a donation to Turn on the Tap, a campaign by Samaritan’s Purse to support their work in providing African and Asian communities with access to safe water.
Samaritan’s Purse works within developing communities to dig wells, build rainwater harvesting solutions, BioSand filters, health & hygiene programs and education initiatives so that water is easier to access and is safer for people to consume.
Want more information?
www.turnonthetap.org.au
www.unwater.org/worldwaterday
Fast Facts*
- Australians use on average 282 litres of water per day, despite being on one of the driest continents in the world
- 1 in 8 people across the world can not access clean, safe drinking water
- A child dies every 20 seconds from disease related to drinking contaminated water
- 90% of the 1.8 million deaths from diarrheal disease (including cholera) are children under the age of 5
Source: turnonthetap.org.au