The Facts

Water related disease is one of the world’s biggest killers – more life-threatening than all forms of violence and war.

• 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease.
• At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients whose diseases are associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, and poor sanitation
• Improved water supply, water management, and sanitation, could alleviate 10% of all disease across the globe

Children are most vulnerable

• Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a preventable, water-related, disease
• Inadequate provision of water kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.
• Diarrhoea caused by drinking contaminated water remains a leading cause of illness and death among infants and children in the developing world.

Women suffer disproportionately

• In Africa, 81% of the work of gathering water is done by women
• The average daily distance a woman must walk to collect water is 6km, or 3.7miles.
• The water women in Asia and Africa carry back, often on their heads, weighs the equivalent of the maximum baggage allowance allowed by airlines: 20 kg, or 44lbs.

Lack of safe water affects more than health

• 443 million schools days and over 40 billion working hours are lost to water collection each year
• The daily drinking water requirement per person is 2-4 litres, but it takes 2000 to 5000 litres of water to produce one person's daily food
• Acts of cultural and religious significance often involve water as part of the ritual, a lack of water inhibits these forms of expression

Water is valuable

• By 2025, it is estimated that two thirds of the world's population, about 5.5 billion people, will live in areas facing moderate to severe water stress
• The economic payback from reaching the Millennium targets for drinking water and sanitation by 2015 is estimated to be US$ 84 billion