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David Zaretsky

What is the Water Crisis?


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Did you know that over two billion people do not have access to safe drinking water? Not having safe drinking water can lead to many diseases, such as typhoid, polio, and hepatitis A. This is a major issue in modern life that nobody seems to talk about. One of the organizations that is trying to fight this issue is Build a Water Project.


Build a Water Project was founded by Leah Fontaine and Rehna Saalinger. They are combating the water crisis by getting donations and selling items on their website buildawaterproject.org. They take the funds from their website and give them to an organization in Bangladesh that helps local people access safe drinking water.


In 2021, a reported 68.3 million people didn’t have access to safe drinking water in Bangladesh alone! Most of these people live in rural areas that don’t have the infrastructure to help people have safe drinking water. However, even some cities don’t have dependable, clean water. Many of these people have to walk miles in hilly, unstable conditions just to get water, and most of the time the water is contaminated. Further, the water crisis disproportionately affects women and girls as they are often the ones who walk miles to acquire water.


Most of these people have no other choice but to drink dirty water. Even if the effects of contaminated water are known, dirty water may be the only option - a reality those in the West are often unaware of. Any donations help; even if it is one dollar, that dollar could save someone's life in underdeveloped countries.


There are some genius inventors who realize the importance of this issue. According to innovators at Stanford involved in the Borgen Project, “Stanford's new powder is made from metallic ‘nano-sized flakes of copper, iron oxide, aluminum oxide, and molybdenum sulfide.’” The powder can disinfect water in under 60 seconds; this, among other inventions, is the future of solving this issue globally.


In conclusion, over two billion people suffer from dirty drinking water across the globe. Scientists all over the world are coming up with incredible solutions to solve this problem. You can help people access clean drinking water by donating to or buying a product from buildawaterproject.org. With your help, we can combat the water crisis one community at a time.


Bibliography


Bayram, Seyma. “NPR - Breaking News, Analysis, Music, Arts & Podcasts : NPR.” NPR, 22 Mar. 2023, http://www.npr.org.


“Drinking-Water.” World Health Organization, 13 Sept. 2023, https://www.who.int.


Fontaine, Leah, and Rehna Saalinger. “Build a Water Project | Fundraiser.” BAWP, Leah Fontaine, 17 Oct. 2023, http://www.buildawaterproject.org.


“Global Economic Data, Indicators, Charts & Forecasts | CEIC.” Global Economic Data, Indicators, Charts & Forecasts | CEIC, http://www.ceicdata.com. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.


“National Center for Biotechnology Information.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

Selim, Faria. “UNICEF.” UNICEF, 1 July 2021, http://www.unicef.org.


“Water Pollution.” Iberdrola, http://www.iberdrola.com. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.


“Water Scarcity.” UN Water, https://www.unwater.org. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

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