Access to safe, clean water may help people stay well and protected from illness, grow food, and prosper in sensitive areas. Around the world, one in every nine people still lacks access to safe drinking water. Every day, over 1,000 children die from diarrhoea and waterborne infections due to a lack of safe water.
Unprivileged children under the age of 15 are sometimes burdened with the responsibility of trekking kilometres each day to get water in polluted streams and ponds, which frequently sicken whole families. Children's futures and education are being compromised due to a lack of potable water. Finding water is a daily struggle for moms and children, particularly females.
Consequences of water shortages
Every two minutes, a kid dies as a result of a water-related sickness. Every year, about one million people die as a result of water, sanitation, and hygiene-related illnesses that may be avoided with access to safe water or sanitation.
An estimated 2.5 billion individuals (more than 35% of the world's population) do not have access to proper sanitation. 780 million people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water.
Children are frequently in charge of gathering water for their families, spending up to five hours a day searching for water sources. This takes time away from school, putting their education and future at risk.
Yemen
Yemen's tremendous population expansion increases water consumption and puts a pressure on water supply, particularly considering the country's dry and arid environment. Already in 2012, per capita water availability was estimated to be as low as 86 cubic metres per year, making it one of the lowest in the MENA area. Yemen's water insecurity combined with its large youth population might be a dangerous combination, especially given that many young men are armed, jobless, and dissatisfied.
Furthermore, the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly obvious in Yemen, putting further stress on water security. Drought times are expected to become more common in the future, according to projections of projected rainfall variability. Similarly, it is predicted that a significant increase in temperature will result in increased evaporation rates.
Syria
Syria's water issue has worsened the country's challenges. Water shortage has harmed crops and agricultural livelihoods, reducing availability to food and substantially rising food and basic commodities costs. According to the United Nations action plan, at least 12.4 million Syrians are anticipated to be food insecure, a statistic that, along with malnutrition rates, will only rise if the drought continues.
According to UN experts, the water crisis has also boosted the frequency of water-borne infections, putting an additional burden on Syria's public health system in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic. The water issue is another challenge for Syrians to overcome as they strive for a feeling of normalcy after decades of violence.
Gaza
Human existence depends on clean water. Imagine if 90% of the water in your area was unsafe to drink! That is, unfortunately, the scenario in Gaza. Gaza's whole population is dependent on a single subsurface aquifer. Sea water, sewage, and chemicals pollute 95 percent of the water generated. The United Nations anticipates that by 2022, all water in Gaza would be contaminated and unsafe for drinking, rendering the territory uninhabitable.
Gaza's water problem is rising alarmingly. The 2014 war exacerbated the unsustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene scenario worsened by the long-standing siege (OCHA). Even before the 2014 crisis, the water and sanitation sector was struggling to meet the demands of the 1.8 million people besieged in Gaza, cut off from the rest of the world.
Water shortages: UHR’s efforts
United Hands Relief's mission is to increase access to clean water, sanitation, hygiene practises, and awareness among the world's poor and displaced communities. Due to periodic droughts and other calamities, some African countries may have no safe water to drink within a few years.
You can help disadvantaged communities drink safe, clean water, maintain their hygiene, irrigate their crops, and keep their livestock hydrated by participating in UHR's Build A Water Well initiative.
United Hands Relief finds the most remote villages threatened by the escalating water crisis. We drill wells and build purification systems. Each well supplies safe, clean water to approximately 16,000 people. Every day, children die as a result of unclean water in Gaza. Give a monthly gift to help us deliver safe drinking water to Gaza's vulnerable children and reap the benefits for years to come!
Unfortunately, this water crisis has in turn given rise to food shortage in the affected regions. UHR established the Monthly Family Assistance programme in order to reach out to refugees and impacted families living in severe poverty. UHR workers and partners give critical food assistance to guarantee that families have enough to eat for one month.
