Water: a Global Crisis

Over 2 billion people lack safe drinking water

“Do you know what I think about while I’m running?” Katie Spotz asked me during our conversation last month, half-rhetorically.

“What?” I responded with genuine curiosity.

“NOTHING!”

Katie Spotz is an ultra-endurance athlete who has traversed the globe to raise money for children and families who don’t have access to clean drinking water.Katie describes running as being meditative — sometimes listening to the beat of a metronome (180 beats per minute), to match her pace.

In 2010 when she was 22 years old, Katie Spotz became the youngest person to ever row across the Atlantic Ocean. Beginning the journey in Dakar, Senegal and finishing in Guyana (a northern country in South America,) Katie rowed over 3,000 miles across the ocean, by herself. Her row across the Atlantic Ocean helped Katie raise over $150,000 for clean water projects across the globe.
The Crisis
Around the world, over 2 billion people do not have a toilet, and over 785 million people don’t have access to safe drinking water.

Every year, almost 1 million people die from water and sanitation-related diseases. Children are heavily effected — with a child dying every two minutes from a disease related to unsafe drinking water. In fact, the third leading cause of child death is diarrhea.

For areas that don’t have easy access to safe drinking water, the cost goes beyond health. It is estimated that $260 billion of economic opportunities is lost, given the cumulative time that it takes people to gather clean drinking water. Giving families access to clean drinking water not only improves their health outcomes, but also provides them with better education opportunities by freeing up their time.

Head here to read the complete article, written by Jake Newfield.