New Delhi: As we celebrate World Water Day today, March 22, every year, the day also highlights the need to save and conserve water.
Here are some disturbing facts about water and sanitation that you should know:
- 1 in 10 people still lack access to safe water
- Globally, 1/3 of all schools lack access to safe water and adequate sanitation.
- Women and children spend 125 million hours each day collecting water
- Every 90 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease
- Every $1 invested in water and sanitation provides a $4 economic return
- 1 in 3 people lack access to a toilet - 2.4 billion people
- More people have a mobile phone than a toilet
- A review of rural water system sustainability in eight countries in Africa, South Asia, and Central America found an average water project failure rate of 20 - 40 percent.
- 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.
(Source: Water.org)