Reality Checks

A while ago, I posted Charity: water's video of Jennifer Connelly in New York throwing out the idea of what it would look like for us to have to walk to local rivers or lakes and get our own water.

How different our lives are from those who live in areas of the world without clean water sources really hit home for me the other day. My husband and I are visiting my parents currently and they live in a very affluent neighborhood. It is a bit of culture shock to us, at times.

The other day I realized how easy we have it with water. While my laundry was washing, I was getting ice and water out of the refrigerator and into a cup, and at the same time my husband was taking a shower downstairs. In the same moment, in three separate rooms I had access to three separate sources of clean, fresh, water the temperature of my choice.

In light of that I was inspired to look more into the scarcity of water around the world for basic needs.

In areas of affluence we need to be reminded that others don''t live as we do. There is so much we can do to help!

Costs of Bottled Water

Bottled water is seen everywhere. Anywhere you go, from restaurants to gas stations to grocery stores, bottled water is so present that we do not see the potential harm.


"The global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier. Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing—producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more. At as much as $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline." (From the Earth Policy Institute)

For most of the U.S., tap water is safe to drink. In fact, there are more regulations on safety of tap water than there are on bottled water companies. So what are some of the costs of drinking water?

*Only one out of five water bottles of the 150 billion sold in a year are recycled. So each year, bottled water contributes 120 billion water bottles to landfills or around cities as litter.

*The production and distribution of water bottles requires fossil fuels. "Transporting water around the globe involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels and thus emitting greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere. This contrasts starkly with tap water, which is distributed through an energy efficient infrastructure," said Janet Larson of the Earth Policy Institute. (From Bottled Water's Big Waste).

*Oil used in production of bottled water: "The most commonly used plastic for making water bottles is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is derived from crude oil. Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year." (From Bottled Water's Big Waste).

*The growth of the bottled water industry causes water shortages near bottled water factories. This has happened in Texas as well as around the great lakes where bottled water plants exist.

*Bottled water costs 2,900 times that of tap water.

Hope in Powder Form

There seem to be so many great things happening in the move to get water to the people around the world who do not have access to it. This week in on Time Magazine's blog, they talked about a help in the form of a water purifying powder.

The urgency of getting people access to clean water is felt in the writer's final statement: "Sure, it would be better if everyone had access to safe water piped in from fresh springs or treatments plants. But you could literally die waiting for that to happen."
[See Article:
Clean Water Powder ]

Just a Quick Post...

I saw this video on Youtube this afternoon and thought that it was worth posting.

For more information on how to help families receive clean drinking water: http://thewaterproject.org/clean-water-wells-in-africa.asp

For What It's Worth...

It's all about perspective. Every day we spend money on things that won't last.

-The average price of a movie ticket in the US is $6.88, that same amount of money put into an organization like The Water Project can fund water to a child in Africa for over 6 years!


-$50 will buy a pair of jeans from a department store or a filter that would provide clean, healthy water for a whole family.

-$1 will buy a double cheeseburger at McDonalds or could give water to someone in Africa for one year.

-At times people feel like they cannot give enough. But if we got 500 people to give $1, that would be enough to fix an entire well in Zambia.

-If the entire population of largest city in the US (New York: close to 20,000,000) would give $1 we could build around 6,700 new wells. ; so that means we could give water to an entire country the size of Sierra Leone (about 5,000,000 people). [Each of those wells would reach 500-1000].

It starts small. Imagine the impact we could make if every one gave up one cheeseburger a month or one movie every few months!

For more information on donating to The Water Project.

For information on Water Challenge.


"Live simply so that others may simply live." Ghandi

Water: A life-source or a poison?

In some cases this is not an easy question to answer. The very water that life depends on potentially brings as much harm as it does good.

Arsenic has long been recognized as a common poison or murder weapon used in movies, television, or books.

So what are families to do when their source of drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning water is contaminated with arsenic? Arsenic that even in very levels causes nausea and vomiting, affects production of blood cells, changes heart rhythm, and causes what appears to be corns or warts on the skin of those who ingest it long term. (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts2.html#bookmark05)

In children, arsenic exposure or has also been show to lead to lower IQ scores. Eventually arsenic ingestion leads to cancers, liver and kidney failure, as well as the amputation of limbs.

In developing countries, (such as Bangladesh pictured above) shallow wells are often contaminated. And in many areas, the only other alternative to these wells is the ponds that are used for or placed near toilets. This “solution” leads to other health complications such as diarrhea and skin diseases, especially among children. The problem of unclean or contaminated water is a common one.

The situation with arsenic in the water is just one example of the issues that people in developing countries face.

There is always hope. In some instances, the solution is digging newer, deeper wells. Other technology is becoming available as well.

The awareness is growing, leading to more action. It is the responses and prayers of people like you helps developing areas to overcome this problem in such a crucial way!

For more information:

IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=62999
Mason Gazette: http://gazette.gmu.edu/articles/9780/

One World Net: http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/157415/1/

(Picture from Pierce, Fred. “Bangladesh Arsenic Poisoning: who is to blame?” http://www.unesco.org/courier/2001_01/uk/planet.htm)

Kenya Agreement Signed

The news out of Kenya this morning is very positive. It appears that the rival political parties have reached some form of power-sharing agreement. We hope and pray this will indeed bring a swift end to the remaining pockets of violence around the country. We also hope that aid organizations will now be freed once again to help those in need.