How much water are you wasting?
BLOG: Labanya’s Curiosity Shop
By Labanya Mookerjee
PHILADELPHIA: Composing three fourths of our hallowed planet and our body, water, that miraculous liquid free of all contamination, is the greatest enabler of life taken for granted with each half-filled glass of iced water that we throw out, each hour when we leave the sprinklers on, and each extended hot shower we take.
And, I’m no saint. I’ve been equally guilty of letting the tap run free as I, bleary-eyed and drowsy, would stumble to the porcelain sink at 7 AM, to absent-mindedly brush my teeth. My morning would then brew me a dozen cups of coffee so that I may remain functional throughout the day.
But, for many families around the world, basic survival is a daily struggle because of one simple matter: lack of access to adequate amounts of clean water.
Oftentimes, the environment that such families reside in simply does not allow for a reliable source of daily water. In these areas, women and children are forced to walk for miles and miles in hot, harsh, and dangerous conditions for something we take for granted every day.
In other cases, water may be accessible, but that does not guarantee that it is clean. In such cases, the water is contaminated by sewage, usually fecal matter.
For me, for a long while, living in a nation where water is nearly a given commodity, where I have the luxury of spending $15 on a lavish car wash or devouring a burger that required over 1300 gallons of water to produce, the despair that people worldwide suffer to obtain this basic need would hardly cross my mind.
My visits to India were also generally well-equipped with water filters and iced bottles of this “blue gold.” But, really, all anyone needs is a peek outdoors to hear the countless heartbreaking stories of jaundice and cholera.
A few minutes on Google reveals that the inaccessibility of water in developing countries manifests in two separate ways. The first way is the lack of water, itself. According to a 2006 United Nations Human Development Report, about 884 million people lack access to clean water—that’s nearly three times the population of the United States.
This means that children who really should be spending their time cultivating their minds and preparing themselves for a career are instead taxing their energy in desperate search for water.
This also means that women, who should be free to make their own decisions and pursue their dreams, are instead left to spend hours of their day, barely surviving by collecting water that is often unsafe.
In fact, according to a report by the Water and Sanitation program, in just one day, 220 million work hours are consumed by women collecting water for their families. To place this into perspective, the commutative hours are equivalent to building twenty-eight empire state buildings a day.
The second problem with water involves the people’s lack of accessibility to clean water. EndWaterPoverty.org explains that about one in six people don’t have access safe drinking water.
A 2008 UN Human Development Report indicates that in these developing countries, families have the burden of dealing with starvation and malnutrition, as they do not have enough food to sustain healthy lives. They also have to deal with a lack of a stable and clean home.
And, with children running around, the toll on their parents is often too much. At the end of the day, after working hard out in the sun, as most of these families are involved with brutal physical labor, these individuals return home with sore feet, aching backs, and underfed children.
If that’s not enough, these families then must face the fact that they do not even have the option to indulge in a cool glass of water. Even the most basic living becomes a challenge in such situations, and survival is the name of the game when all the odds are stacked up against each positive step to sustenance.
These sad conditions have led us, you and me, to be living in a world where one child dies every twenty seconds from a water-related disease.
But with the efforts of the UN and several non-profit organizations, active measures are slowly being taken to rescue communities from their despair. Three Avocados, Water for People, Surge for Water, Charity: Water, and Water.org are a few non-profits that have come about to specifically address this pressing issue.
Water.org, in particular, has always interested me with its long-term, sustainable approach. The organization was co-founded by Matt Damon, star of Bourne Identity and Goodwill Hunting, among other films, and also by Gary White.
It primarily focuses on three regions of the world: South Asia, Africa, and Central America. Its main mission is not to provide temporary results, but to create permanent solutions by using innovative ideas to develop new financial models and to reform existing inefficient infrastructures.
The non-profit realizes that there are serious discrepancies between the accessibility of water in third world versus first world nations. Water costs more in poorer countries because communities in developing nations have not yet built the infrastructure to make water more accessible.
So, Water.org works cohesively with the community to empower it and to provide it with the tools needed to sustain water management. In this way, it allows the community to take control of its own future.
The world is plagued with daunting troubles, and it is easy to resign in frustration. While it is impossible for anyone to completely turn the tides of injustice, small steps can be taken to prevent further harm.
Supporting such non-profits is an excellent start. For instance, for every dollar that goes to Water.org, the World Health Organization estimates returns of $3 – $34, depending on the region and technology. So, your two dollars that would normally be spent on a small cup of coffee is enough to provide safe drinking water for three people.
Renowned author and educator, Anna Lappé tells us that “Every time you spend money, you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want.”
So, tell me, what kind of world are you voting for?
(Labanya Mookerjee has received the Tim Marks scholarship for the Arts, the Academic Excellence Award and the 2013 Francis J. Ryan award for “Best Undergraduate Research Paper” at Eastern American Studies Association Conference.)