Happy World Water Day!

If you’re used to purified, fortified, drinkable water flowing from taps in every kitchen and bathroom in the house, it can be difficult not to take the life-giving substance for granted. Even so, somewhere in the back of our minds we are aware that it’s not that easy for everyone.
In fact, according to a news release earlier this month from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), in rural parts of the least developed countries, 14% of the population drinks water from sources like rivers and ponds, greatly increasing the risk of disease. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake says that 11% of the world’s population, or 783 million people, still lack access to safe drinking water.
And yet there is also cause for celebration!


That 11% marks the achievement of one of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals: to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. The news release states that between 1990 and 2010, more than 2 billion people benefitted from improved access to drinking water.
“For children this is especially good news,” Lake says in the news release. “Every day more than 3000 children die from diarrheal diseases. Achieving this goal will go a long way to saving children’s lives.”
Today, in honor of World Water Day, the District of Gulu held an event to educate the community on the importance of clean water and good hygiene practices – and to celebrate the successes.
Invisible Children (IC) has partnered with International Lifeline Fund and charity: water to drill 20 boreholes in rural communities, providing safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene to the families living there.
The District Water Officer, Patrick Mecak, emphasized the role of the community in owning and maintaining those boreholes: “the community has improved water and sanitation through team work, whereby community members regularly clean the springs and boreholes which are among the sources of water in this area.”
The IC team is already planning for the drilling of more boreholes later this year so that other communities will have the same access to clean water and same opportunity for a better, healthier life. As WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said:
“Providing sustainable access to improved drinking water sources is one of the most important things we can do to reduce disease. But this achievement today is only the beginning. We must continue to ensure this access remains safe.”

-Bethany & Germina

blog.invisiblechildren.com