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While
most of us leave our faucets open and the water running while we brush our
teeth, fail to fix faulty plumbing, and spend sometimes as long as half an hour
standing under the shower, over one billion people of this same planet continue
to lack access to a safe water source. Not only that, but half of the developing
world’s population lacks access to any source of improved sanitation.
It’s
difficult for us to imagine what life is like for those billions who do not have
running water in their homes, and are forced to resort to using what is usually
a polluted water source for drinking, bathing, and washing. Without a proper
sanitation system, even those that have potable running water in their homes
find themselves using polluted water. Women without a sanitation system in their
homes will commonly resort to washing clothes, dishes, children and even animals
in public waterways, where it is easier to dispose of wastewater. This forms a
source of pollution to the very water they are using. The seepage of sewage from
improperly built underground septic tanks into the surrounding soil also has a
negative impact on groundwater. And when water is provided without providing a
parallel sanitation system, the amount of sewage increases, increasing the
pollution of groundwater.
The
vicious circles are endless. If people are not provided with a means to dispose
of their solid waste, it might very well end up thrown in the local waterways,
in the belief that the running water will remove it and have a cleansing effect.
If people’s water sources are polluted, they expose themselves to contracting
a wide array of diseases such as diarrhea that kills an estimated 1.8 million
people every year, malaria that kills 1.3 million people annually, bilharziasis
that infects 160 million annually, and trachoma which 500 million people are at
risk of contracting every year.
These
problems are not as far away from us as we believe. More than 900 million people
in the world, comprising 43 percent of the urban population of developing
countries, live in slums in our very own cities. Many of these people do not
have a safe source of drinking water, nor do they have a suitable sanitation
system.
The
international community has turned into a beehive of activity to solve these
problems. Promises have been made by the countries of the world to halve the
number of people lacking water and sanitation by the year 2015. Water experts
are networking, exchanging information, and exchanging positive experiences to
alleviate the situation in as short a period possible. Non-governmental
organizations are providing people living in both rural and informal urban
settlements with small-scale and low-cost sustainable approaches to solve their
problems. The media is becoming more and more aware of the importance of
covering water and sanitation issues. Religious leaders are becoming more
involved in addressing these issues in their mosques, churches, and synagogues.
And for all of these, no rest will come until they have reached their goal.
“Water
for Life, Sanitation for Life” is the slogan IslamOnline.net raises this year
on the occasion of World Water Day 2005.
| People
Power |
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Water Knowledge |
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| When Things Go Wrong |
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Sanitation for Life |
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| Water as a Matter of Faith |
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Water in the News |
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Read
Also:
* Nadia El-Awady is managing editor of IslamOnline.net's Health & Science section. She has a bachelor's degree in medicine from Cairo University and is currently studying for a masters degree in journalism and mass communications at the American University in Cairo. Nadia was the first prize winner of the 2004 Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene for All (WASH) Media Award from the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council for her article
The Nile and its People: What Goes Around Comes
Around. You can reach her at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net.
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