#ProjectZen #Day7 #GratitudeProject  

I woke up this morning on Day 7 of my gratitude project, and before I even got out of bed, my mind was turning about just what to write about today. I was coming up with nothing. So I got up, hit the bathroom to attend to private business, wash my face, and brush my teeth. I headed out to the kitchen. I drank a glass of water. I made coffee. I rinsed out and refilled the huge bowl we keep out on the floor for the cats. I washed a few dishes. I stepped into the small adjoining mud room and threw a load of laundry in the washer. Water, water, water. BINGO!  

Today, I am grateful for clean water. I have clean water to drink. I have clean water to bathe in. I have clean water to flush my toilet. I have clean water to wash my clothes. I have clean water to cook with. I have clean water to give my pets.

What a thing to take for granted. I don’t even think about it. I flip on a faucet, push a button, press a lever….and there it is. Sure, I need to pay that water bill every month, to keep this wonderful modern amenity in my home….so…I think about it one day a month only in the context of “paying utility bills” and the rest of the month….I just use it. I don’t put any thought into it. Not access to it anyway.

I mean sure, a lovely hot shower feels great, doesn’t it? Or if you’ve been out mowing the grass on a hot summer day, a glass of cold water sure hits the spot. But do you really think about it? Do you know just how many people in the world struggle to have a cup of clean water to drink? 

I decided to do some poking around to get some facts and numbers to look at, just in case you’re interested.  

From WATER.ORG:

663 million people – 1 in 10 – lack access to safe water.¹

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2.4 billion people – 1 in 3 – lack access to a toilet.¹

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Twice the population of the United States lives without access to safe water.^1,2

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1/3 of the global population lives without access to a toilet.^1,2

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More people have a mobile phone than a toilet.^1,3

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The water crisis is the #1 global risk based on impact to society (as a measure of devastation), as announced by the World Economic Forum in January 2015. ⁴

References

1. World Health Organization and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). (2015) Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation, 2015 Update and MDG Assessment.

2. United States Census Bureau Estimates. (2015). United States and World Population Clock.

3. International Telecommunication Union (ITU). (2015). The World in 2015 ICT Facts and Figures.

4. World Economic Forum. (2015). Global Risks 2015 Report.

From UNESCO:

Freshwater is the most important resource for mankind, cross-cutting all social, economic and environmental activities. It is a condition for all life on our planet, an enabling or limiting factor for any social and technological development, a possible source of welfare or misery, cooperation or conflict.

From END WATER POVERTY:

Today, 663 million people still don’t have clean, safe water. This results forces women across the world to spend 200 million hours a day collecting water. 2.3 billion people don’t have access to adequate sanitation facilities – that’s 1 in 3 people. More people have mobile phones than have access to a safe toilet.

Lack of access to safe, sustainable water and sanitation has a negative impact on health outcomes – over 500,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe or dirty water and poor sanitation.