World Toilet Day: Plumbing and Water Poverty

My family is full of plumbers, my Great Grandfather, Grandfather, Uncle and cousin all made or make their living as plumbers. So I know a little bit about plumbing.

But I don't normally think about the fact that many places in the world don't have plumbing or adequate plumbing.

End Water Poverty is an organization that is raising awareness about this issue and World Toilet Day, November 19th, is one way the word is spreading.

Facts taken from End Water Poverty's website:

884 million people don't have clean water and 40% of the world’s population suffer without a safe toilet, that’s 2.5 billion people.

This crisis kills many and dramatically affecting life in developing countries:

Health: Preventable illnesses spread by the crisis heavily overburden health systems. More than half of hospital beds in Sub Saharan Africa are occupied by patients suffering from sanitation and water related diseases.

Children: 4000 children die from these diseases every day. They're the biggest killer of young children, killing over five times more than HIV/AIDS and twice as many as malaria.

Education and gender: With children too ill to go to classes, education is suffering. Young girls simply don't attend as there aren't toilets at school, or they aren’t safe and private. Other girls spend hours of their day walking to fetch water or caring for ill siblings and have no time for an education at all.

Economies: It’s drastically affecting developing economies too - in Africa, an estimated 5% of GDP is lost to illnesses and deaths caused by dirty water and the absence of sanitation.

Climate change: And climate change is making things worse – with increased pressure on water resources.

What is End Water Poverty doing?

The End Water Poverty campaign is demanding that governments provide sanitation and water for the world's poorest people. We are calling for:

• One global action plan for sanitation and water monitored by one global task force
• 70% of aid money for sanitation and water to be targeted at the poorest countries
• Water resources to be protected and shared equitably

If you would like to learn more or get involved please visit the End Water Poverty website. You can also visit I Count for My Earth for other suggestions, links and information on this topic.