884 million people do not have safe water. Every day in Africa, women and girls spend hours walking long distances to get water from any available sources- including polluted lakes, rivers, and even puddles of ground water. It is estimated that in Sub Saharan Africa alone all of this acquiring of water consumes 40 billion hours of labor each year.
Cost in dollars:
That much labor is equivalent to the entire workforce of California (16,951,000 people) working 45 hours per week for an entire year. If the 40 billion hours spent acquiring water were spent in work at minimum wage, it would have a value of $320,000,000,000. That is the cost per year in lost wages because of time consumed in acquiring water to simply survive. Also, the urban poor living in Nairobi slums and other region of poverty must buy their water, and they often pay five to ten times more per liter than their neighbors within the city who do not live in poverty.
Cost in quality of life:
Were there a readily available clean water source, the hours spent obtaining water could be spent nurturing young children, enjoying family life, creativity, business, gardening, and other life-enriching and income-producing activities.
Cost in health care:
Health care cost correlated to water borne and water related diseases is tremendous. At any one time it is estimated that people suffering from water related illnesses occupy one half of the world’s hospital beds, and 84% of these are children under the age of 14.
Cost in human lives:
Water related diseases take the lives of over 3.575 million people each year, taking the life of a child every 15 seconds.
Cost in US foreign aid:
It is estimated that the US would save $7 billion a year in foreign aid if the need for clean water in these countries was fully addressed. Every dollar spent on remedying the water, hygiene, and sanitation problems in developing countries yields eight dollars in return in the form of foreign aid that does not have to be spent.
Cost in productivity:
A tremendous amount of time is spent being sick or caring for the sick in countries affected by water borne diseases. Women are responsible for half the world’s food production, and in developing countries, women's labor accounts for 60-80% of food production. But when so much labor is invested in obtaining water and so much time is involved in either being sick or caring for the sick, the lack of clean water greatly reduces food production. When a village has a readily available source of clean water it makes possible not only more productive gardening, but larger scale farming with irrigation, thus increasing food production, income, and quality of life.
Cost in hope for a better future:
In the United States more than 50% of all college students are women, and women now comprise a large portion of the professional and skilled workforce; however, in most Third World countries these opportunities don’t exist. In Sub Saharan Africa, girls have limited access to an education because they routinely start early in the day, often before sunrise, traveling long distances to get water for their families; so although they value education, they are unable to regularly attend school. Each year, 272 million school days are missed because of time spent acquiring water or because of water related illnesses. This greatly limits girls’ potential for better jobs and a better future. However, when a village has a readily available source of clean water, girls have the same educational opportunities as the boys, which makes it possible to dream big and to think of a bright future in which they are no longer living in poverty.
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