Safe drinking water is a human birthright as much a birthright as clean air. However, much of the world’s population does not have access to safe drinking water. Of the 6 billion people on earth, more than one billion (one in six) lack access to safe drinking water. Moreover, about 2.5 billion (more than one in three) do not have access to adequate sanitation services. Together, these shortcomings spawn waterborne diseases that kill on average more than 6 million children each year (about 20,000 children a day).
Water is a necessity for everyone and yet it remains a luxury to many people around the world. Every person needs a sustainable supply of clean water: for drinking, washing, cooking and cleaning.
In many countries, taps, wells and pipes delivering clean water simply do not exist and even where they do, water supply services are often not affordable or accessible, or aren’t designed to last.
Right now:
- 785 million people don’t have clean water. (WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Report 2019)
- 31% of schools don’t have clean water. (UNICEF, Advancing WASH in Schools Monitoring, 2015)
- If everyone, everywhere had clean water, the number of diarrheal deaths would be cut by a third.(Tropical Medicine and International Health, 2014)
