Safe drinking water.\u00a0 It’s a basic service that many of us\u00a0take totally for\u00a0granted.\u00a0 I turn the faucet on and expect to drink safe water (thanks to the great folks at our public water departments).\u00a0 Yet I often wonder what the US would do if this wasn’t readily available to Americans.\u00a0 It would certainly be one of the top items, if not the top item,\u00a0on the national agenda to fix.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
As such, this totally frustrates me when I see that this\u00a0basic and\u00a0simple service in many parts of this world is just not available, mainly due to lack of financial resources and education.\u00a0 And without proper filteration, many of the waterborne diseases (such as e.coli, rotavirus, salmonellosis, giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis, shilgellosis, amebiasis, cholera) are being consumed, unfortunately by many children.<\/p>\n
According to my colleagues at Harvard, nearly 2 million children die each year from simple diarrhea, making it the 2nd largest cause of child mortality worldwide.\u00a0 Interestingly, “over half of the hospital beds in the developing world are occupied by people suffering from preventable waterborne disease.”\u00a0 1 in 6 people worldwide (1.1 billion people) do not have adequate access to drinking water, while 1 in 3 people worldwide (2.6 billion people) lack basic sanitation.<\/p>\n