WATER AND POVERTY by Andrea Casserres Capdevila

Distribution of water on Earth

09003_casp — 2016-12-16 11:38:44 UTC

Fresh water and poverty

09003_casp — 2016-12-16 11:46:41 UTC

Over 70% of our Earth's surface is covered by water (we should really call our planet "Ocean" instead of "Earth"). Although water is apparently abundant, the real problem is the amount of fresh water available. So many people are drinking for a little water consumption or consumption of dirty water.

Fresh water available

09003_casp — 2016-12-21 16:05:45 UTC

Although water is seemingly abundant, the real issue is the amount of fresh water available.

97.5% of all water on Earth is salt water, leaving only 2.5% as fresh water .
Nearly 70% of that fresh water is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland; most of the remainder is present as soil moisture, or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater not accessible to human use.
< 1% of the world's fresh water (~0.007% of all water on earth) is accessible for direct human uses. This is the water found in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and those underground sources that are shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. Only this amount is regularly renewed by rain and snowfall, and is therefore available on a sustainable basis.

Some equivalence of the lack of water among the poor

09003_casp — 2016-12-21 16:06:38 UTC

- Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.

- Every 21 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness. In 1 hour, 71 children die from a water-related illness. In 2009, a child died every 15 seconds from a water-related illness. In 1980 it was every 6 seconds.

Link for video

09003_casp — 2016-12-21 20:02:03 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxfEVXNm_-4