Water: Its Importance to All
Our ability as Canadians to get access to clean drinking water is something we overlook everyday, we take a few steps towards the tap, fill up our glass, take a sip and immediately quench our thirst. This convenience for us is a major challenge everyday for billions around the world and it's our responsibility to help provide all people with access to clean and safe drinking water.
The stats are grim as it relates to the issue of clean water, within our world 700 million people live in areas affected by water scarcity, this means 1 in every 10 people in the world deal with this issue daily.
Sadly this global issue is only expected to worsen; by 2025 it is believed that 1.8 billion people will be living in areas that have extreme water scarcity issues, largely as a result of climate change. People who are often left to drink contaminated unsafe water as a result of lack of access end up contracting illnesses such as cholera and typhoid. It is these illnesses that kill up to 842,000 people a year including 340,000 children, a hard thing to believe in a developed country like Canada. These contaminants are often a result of feces runoff as well as runoff from agriculture, industrial and mining operations that end up in the drinking water.
Solutions to this issue are available, however the global community-including us as Canadians-have to work for a change. Investing in infrastructure is key as 1.6 million people are affected by economic water scarcity, this is when governments are unable to afford to put in place water projects that would allow for communities to have easy access to clean water.
If we Canadians, along with the rest of the core nations, looked to invest in and donate to charitable organizations it would allow for the increased production of wells, rain collecting system and other water projects that can provide these affected communities which are largely found in sub-Saharan Africa with clean and safe drinking water.
Another solution is for countries to have stricter environmental regulations introduced on mining, agriculture and industrial practices. By introducing stricter laws that can result in possible fines/ jail time for the perpetrators their will be an increased precedence put on these people and companies to clean up their messes and will likely result in cleaner water and thus improving sources of drinking water.
When people have access to clean water it provides them with an improved life and increased opportunities for the future. The ability for people to drink clean water, and grow crops supplies them with the basic necessities of life that allows them to remain healthy. It is this health that allows for an education to be obtained and subsequently provides people with an escape from a continuous cycle of poverty.
This is why it is our responsibility as Canadians to take action and look to provide all people with the water that is needed to have a better life.
