It's an Outrage!

Disease

• 1.8 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases (including cholera) caused by unclean water and poor sanitation; 90% are children under 5, mostly in developing countries.[1]
• Most illnesses in developing countries are water-related.[2]
• Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis.[3]

Sanitation

• 2.6 billion people in the world do not have proper drains or toilets (roughly two out of every five people in the world).[4]
• Nearly 1.4 billion people without sanitation live on around £1 a day.[5] 

Access to water

• 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe water (roughly one out of every six people in the world).[6]
• In the United Kingdom, the average person uses 150 litres of water every day.[7]
• The average person in the developing world uses 10 litres of water every day; the same amount of water we use every time we flush the toilet.[8]
• The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 4 miles.[9]
• The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is commonly 20kg, the same as the average UK airport luggage allowance.[10]

1. World Health Organization Water, sanitation and hygiene links to health. Facts and figures updated November 2004. Available at: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/facts2004/en/index.html
2. United Nations Press Release SG/SM/8707 OBV/348. Available at: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/sgsm8707.doc.htm
3. Water Aid’s key facts and statistics. Available at: http://www.wateraid.org.uk/uk/what_we_do/statistics/default.asp
4. World Health Organization report. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/pr47/en/index.html
5. Human Development Report 2006, Chapter 3 Summary: The vast deficit in sanitation. Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/chapter3.htm
6. Human Development Report 2006. Chapter 2: Water for human consumption p.80.  Available at http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/pdfs/report/HDR_2006_Chapter_2.pdf
7. Average daily household water consumption in Ireland.
   Available at: http://www.globalactionplan.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98&Itemid=165
   Average daily household water consumption in England and Wales.
   Available at: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/103196/s3-3a_houseuse?referrer=/yourenv/eff/1190084/water/213872/609264/
8. Africa: ‘The Most Effective Vaccine against Child Death in Africa is a Glass of Clean Water’. Page 2. Available at: http://allafrica.com/stories/200611100001.html?page=2
9. UNESCO, Facts and Figures: Water Supply and Sanitation. Available at: http://www.wateryear2003.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=4096&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
10. UNESCO, Facts and Figures: Water Supply and Sanitation. Available at: http://www.wateryear2003.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=4096&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html