The Blog Action Day Post: Water

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Unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.

Water: 38,000 Children a Week: Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions.

More people have access to a cell phone than to a toilet. Today, 2.5 billion people lack access to toilets. This means that sewage spills into rivers and streams, contaminating drinking water and causing disease.

Living here in the Catskills, it's hard to believe that clean, fresh water could be a problem anywhere. Of course, I know that it is a problem. The facts  speak for themselves.

But, I also know that fixing this problem is within our grasp. Here are some water solutions posted on the Blog Action Day site.

Water solutions:
The good news is that there are great organizations working on solutions and new tools that empower people to do their part to address the water crisis.

• Building Wells: Organizations like Water.org and charity: water are leading the charge in bringing fresh water to communities in the developing world.
• Technology for Good: Do you want to measure how much water it took to make your favorite foods? There’s an app for that. More Info »
• Conservation Starts at Home: The average person uses 465 liters of water per day. Find out how much you use and challenge your readers to do that same. More Info »
• Keeping Rivers Clean: We can all take small steps to help keep pollution out of our rivers and streams, like correctly disposing of household wastes. More Info »
• Drop the Bottle: Communities around the world are taking steps to reduce water bottle waste by eliminating bottled water.More Info »

We can also take a big step toward protecting our water by passing legislation to stop hydrofraking. Watch Gasland and contact your elected representatives.