Water covers more than 2/3 of earth. 97% of that is salt water and 3% is fresh
water. Of that fresh water, only 0.4% is
available for use (the rest remain in polar ice caps, glaciers, the atmosphere
or underground and hard to reach). That
is why preserving the quality of fresh water is important for the future. Here are a few stats to consider the current
water problem around the world.
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| Freshwater available by country |
The Water Problem
- Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water
- 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation
- Lack of water is closely related to poverty:
- Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day
- More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.
- Some 1.8 million children die each year as a result of diarrhea
- 400 million children (1 in 5 from the developing world) have no access to safe water. 1.4 million children will die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
- A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.
- corporations own or operate water systems across the globe that bring in about $200 billion a year. Yet they serve only about 7 percent of the world’s population, leaving a potentially vast market untapped.
