by Tim O'Connor

Created on: January 25, 2009

Doing Our Part: Framing the Problem and Finding the Solutions to the World Water Crisis

"Live like you want the world to change." Gandhi

Water is life. It cleans and hydrates our bodies, carries nourishment to the food we eat, generates energy, changes form, seeks its own level, and returns to itself. Water, in many ways, is the life-blood of our continued existence on the planet. It is a crucial component to our well-being and a requirement for our very survival. Water is a metaphor for the universal connectedness of all things, yet billions of planetary citizens lack safe water or must suffer the consequences of too much of it in one place in the form of ravishing floods.

Contaminated water is responsible for waterborne, water-washed, and water-based diseases. Water borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and parasitic intestinal infections are often caused by pathogens from human excreta. Water-washed diseases such diarrhea and blindness caused by trachoma are caused by lack of water for personal hygiene or washing with contaminated water. Water-based diseases such as guinea worm disease and blood infections are caused by human ingestion of disease carrying hosts.

In many parts of the world, notably Africa and southern Asia, women and children are responsible for fetching and hauling up to 40 pounds of water for distances of up to two-and-half miles or more, two times a day. In times of severe drought, people already weakened by compromised immune systems fall prey to malnutrition and its related diseases.

Loss of opportunity, sickness, blindness, and early death are all too often caused by lack of safe water and sanitation. There's much to be done. Even as mere individuals, we are still a community of planetary residents and stewards of the earth we live on. Given the interconnectedness of all life, we are faced with a moral imperative - a social contract. If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.

Governments, NGO's, corporations, the United Nations, and the European Union must do their part; and so must we - but how? Should we fundraise, donate, volunteer, invest, educate, or go to work for a viable aid organization? Yes.

Each of us can do our part, but given the networks and resources of existing organizations, we are likely to be more effective if we work in groups rather than in isolation. Small groups of individuals working together can change the world. In fact, they often have. Join with others to change the world.

Here's how:

http://www.globalwater.org/
http://www.wateraid.o rg/
http://www.water.org/

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

Source: Cohen, David E., ed. What Matters. New York, London: Sterling, 2008

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