World Water Day

I want you to stop for a second and think about how many times already today you’ve used water. If you’re like me, you got up and flushed a toilet. You may have brushed your teeth and even showered. If you’re really healthy, you started your day with a glass of water or even a steaming mug of lemon water.

And all of this was before you even left the house to start the day. You’ll use countless other gallons as you go about your day and unless you’re paying too much for a bottle in a convenience store, you won’t give it much thought.

Water-it’s vitally important to our everyday lives and we pay it very little mind.

Not everyone is that lucky.

780, 000 people, or 11% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe water. That means that they can’t take a drink, brush their teeth or use the bathroom without walking miles from their home, if there is access at all. Diarrheal disease is the third leading cause of death to children in Sub-Saharan Africa and the spread is due in part to the lack of clean water and sanitation. Something we don’t think twice of is as rich a commodity as gold in other parts of the world.

International non-profit organizationWaterAid helps the world’s poorest people to plan, build and manage their own safe water supplies and to improve their sanitation and hygiene.  These basic services transform lives.

Today is World Water Day, a day established by the UN to look at H2O issues around the world. In honor of World Water Day, WaterAid has created a new video entitled Water is Just the Beginning because water is just the beginning of the road out of poverty.  Hours that women now spend carrying water can instead be spent with family, tending crops, raising livestock or starting a business. Imagine the changes that could come of that time-switch.  Simple changes to sanitation and hygiene practices save thousands of babies’ lives and keep children in school.

You can help. You can join the google+ hangout today at 1:30 in celebration of WWD and you can donate to WaterAid. Just $25 helps give one person access to clean water. What will you spend $25 on today? Might you use it instead to improve someone’s life?

I wrote this post as part of The Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of members of Mom Bloggers for Social Good that concentrates on issues involving the global rights of women and girls, children, world hunger and maternal health.

Our Motto: Individually we are all powerful. Together we can change the world.

We believe in the power of collective action to help others and believe in ourselves to make this world a better place for our children and the world’s children.

All information used with permission.