World Water Day: Why Plumbers Are Heroes

The old joke about the plumber's crack has gone dry. Especially on World Water Day.

But it's no joke: water and plumbing changes lives.

Here is a cool infographic I received from Able Skills, the UK-based construction training program on Why Plumbers Are Heroes (you can see an interactive version here):

 


As you can see from the infographic, clean water alone can reduce water-related deaths by 21 percent, improved sanitation alone can reduce such deaths by 37.5 percent, and simple hand-washing can reduce such deaths by 35 percent.

Today, according to UN-Water, "over 780 million people do not have access to improved sources of drinking water and 2.5 billion people are without improved sanitation."

2.5 billion. And we're well into the 21st Century, people.

Population growth, especially in cities, is driving increased water demand. Yet, even more startling is the fact that water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN.

With the world population set to grow to 8 billion by 2025, water withdrawals are likely to increase by 50 percent in developing countries and by as much as 18 percent in already developed countries.

Not all of the water use is from the growth of our cities. In fact, only 8 percent of freshwater is tapped for domestic use. 70 percent of freshwater is used for irrigation and 25 percent goes to industrial uses.

Water for irrigation and food production constitutes one of the greatest pressures on freshwater resources, according to UN-Water.

The World Bank estimates economic losses from lack of sanitation cost up to 7 percent of GDP in some countries.

So, on this World Water Day, tell your plumber how much you appreciate how they've made your water safe to use and readily available. And think about how you can get involved in addressing the issue of access to clean water and sanitation.

World Water Day: Stand Up for Water and Sanitation?

Today, March 22, 2010, is World Water Day, an attempt to raise awareness about the importance of clean water and the thousands of people who still do not have access to clean, healthy water resources.

World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.  Each year, it has a different sanctioned theme, determined by the UN Water Group.  This year's theme is "Clean Water for a Healthy World."

Clean water scarcity is a serious situation affecting more than 2.5 billion people.  Lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation leads to more deaths among children than malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB combined, according to the UN. 

In addition 4000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable water-related illnesses such as diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera and dysentery.

Serious stuff and in need of attention.  It's hard to believe that in the 21st century some parts of the world are without simple sanitation and access to water.  World Water Day is an attempt to shed light on this problem.

In one of the sillier actions associated with the "celebration" this year, a coalition led by the group End Water Poverty, along with Freshwater Action Network, and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre has organized a Guinness World Record attempt to form the world's largest toilet queue.

To participate, you need to gather at least 25 people and have them wait on line to use the bathroom in a public place from 10 minutes up to 24 hours.

What seems like a joke from the days of Monty Python is actually a "serious" attempt to capture the imaginations of the caring public and the World Record.  (And you wonder why I'm a skeptic!)

(Did you know there was a record for longest toilet waiting line? The current record for an individual queue stands at over 868 people, according to organizars.)

Remember: don't cut in line and wash your hands after you go.