The Essence of Life

Water is a commodity most people in the United States don’t even consider. What is there to think about really? You turn the faucet, and there it is. There is always water for cooking, drinking as well as hygiene. Occasionally, during a drought, there is a shortage. But this is more a nuisance than something to panic over.

The reality?

Less than 1% of the world’s fresh water (approximately .007% of all the water on earth) is readily accessible for human use.

Well, what does that really mean? Percentages are so gray sometimes.

Every year, about 3.575 million people die from water-related diseases.

Let me repeat that.

3,574,000 people on this planet die from water-related diseases:

• 43% of these deaths are due to diarrhea
• 84% of these deaths are children (from newborn to 14 years old)
• 98% of these deaths occur in the developing world

One in six people in this world lack access to safe water supplies. That’s 1.1 billion people. Or to spell it out for you: 1,000,000,000 people. Picture that for a second now.

An average American uses 150 gallons of water per day.

An average person in a developing nation struggles to find 5.

Now, perhaps, none of this information is new to you.

Maybe you’ve heard it all before.

But have you really listened?

Consider this:

            $20 = Gap T-shirt

            $20 = bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that you just have to have with dinner

            $20 = clean water for one person for 20 years

Think about it.

Feel free to visit water.org or charitywater.com for way to help.