Part 1
Water is a vital source. For 1 billion people in the developing world, water is scarce. Water Scarcity is "either the lack of enough water (quantity) or lack of access to safe water (quality)." While people in developed countries often take water for granted, there are people who have to walk for miles to find clean water.
Water and Salination
Disease
Economics
Time spent gathering water around the world translates to $24 billion in lost economic benefits each year.
$260 billion is lost globally each year due to lack of safe water and sanitation
Access to credit plays a significant role in triggering household sanitation investments, increasing health and providing families the dignity of a toilet
Women and Children
Women and girls often spend up to 6 hours each day collecting water
Women and girls living without a toilet collectively spend 266 million hours each day finding a place to go
Reductions in time spent collecting water have been found to increase school attendance
Part 2
As developed countries continue to neglect the responsibility that comes with access to clean water, finding access to clean water affects more than only developing countries.
Scientists say that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and 2/3 of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions. By 2030, almost half the world will live under conditions of high water stress
60% of the US was in draught from 2012-2014
Of all of the water on the earth's surface, only 2.5% is fresh water.
Earth's water is usually recycled though the water cycle, but human intervention is corrupting the system with hydroelectricity, irrigation, deforestation, and the greenhouse effect.
Seriously mismanaged dams can result in droughts downstream, with smaller streams completely drying up, leaving areas of unwatered land.
Irrigation removes water from its natural source and often causes leaching and run-off where it is used. As farmers use fertilizers, the waterways become polluted. Also, due to irrigation, salt is brought up from lower levels, called salinization.
Greenhouse Gas
Scientists believe that "burning fossil fuels affects the increase of the Earth’s temperature, causing an increase of evaporation, melting of ice, or other processes of the water cycle that adversely affect the climate on Earth."
If humans continue to disrupt the water cycle, clean water will become even more of an issue in the near future.
Part 3
"Despite Kenya's successful tourist industry and exports tea, coffee and flowers around, almost half the population live in poverty line and millions lack safe water and basic toilets."
Planned urban areas and wealthy rural communities are prioritized in receiving water, while remote villages and poor neighborhoods often lack the water they need.
Over 17 million people in Kenya lack access to safe water.
"According to the Joint Monitoring Programme’s 2012 report, access to safe water supplies throughout Kenya is 59% and access to improved sanitation is 32%"
Kenya's irregular weather patterns has brought the country into draughts and water shortages.
Over 3,100 children die every year from diarrhea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation in Kenya.
Credits:
Created with images by DFID - UK Department for International Development - "Providing clean water and sanitation" • mnemophobe - "Mud" • Oxfam East Africa - "The Congo River is a lifeline, but also a huge threat" • US Army Africa - "J-3003-SPT-94-04-0004-0792 - SETAF HISTORICAL IMAGE ARCHIVE" • Images_of_Money - "Money down the drain" • David Rosen Photography - "Carrying child" • DFID - UK Department for International Development - "Educating boys and girls about Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C)" • Pexels - "clay cracks dry" • wobogre - "nature landscape field" • L. Richard Martin, Jr. - "Hoover Dam" • UnitedSoybeanBoard - "Soybean Field Irrigation" • Unsplash - "deforestation deforest lumber" • byrev - "pollution smoke stack" • www.hickey-fry.com - "Pinewood Beach Resort - Pool" • Ninara - "_Y1A1178"