Water crisis affects millions

Imagine an ice-cold glass of clean water. Imagine having to walk 3.7 miles to get that glass of clean water.

Water.org member Erin Swanson spoke Wednesday in Chemistry 122 on the global problem of water and water sanitation. The event was presented by the University Coalition for Global health.

“We decided to discuss water because water is a very tangible issue,” said junior and president of UCGH Rachel Warsco. “It is an issue which is a lot better to understand than the economy.”

Swanson discussed the issues of water sanitation and how Water.org is helping with the issue. According to the website, 884 million people worldwide lack access to safe water supplies. Water.org seeks to work with various countries around the world to help them make a difference in water sanitation. Among its programs are water education, water technology and water credit. Swanson encouraged the audience to take action.

“This generation has a lot of power and potential to make a difference,” Swanson said.  
One of the most successful programs Swanson spoke about was water credit. Water credit is comprised of small loans given to individuals and communities to have sanitary water systems. The credit helps people address their own water needs, and in turn helps their economies.

Many of the people who deal with the water issue are women. Once women have access to loans, they don’t have to spend hours getting water, Swanson said. They are then able to start a business and make more money with the time they would have spent fetching water.

Swanson encouraged audience members to take action by “donating” their Facebook or Twitter statuses, which would raise awareness and help raise money from sponsors.

“The biggest action we can do right now is awareness,” Warsco said. “Once awareness is raised we can go in to change legislation and make a difference. One of the things we focus on is water scarcity and the global impact. If we don’t do anything about the problems internationally we will feel it in the States.”

According to Water.org, 3.575 million people die each year from water-related
diseases.

“If you think about how much money we spend on defense and how much money we spend on water it really puts the water issue in perspective,” Warsco said. “It’s a problem that is killing millions of people but it’s solvable.”