Water Is Life

Safe water is essential. People always need safe, clean water for drinking, cooking and keeping themselves clean. Diseases such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid are linked to contaminated water and poor sanitation.

Nothing is more fundamental to the quality of life than access to safe drinking water. That's why we formed this non-profit organization, Make Water Safe for the World, Inc. Here are some sobering statistics...

• 1 in 9 people worldwide - 844 million people - do not have access to safe, clean drinking water. [1]

• In the least developed countries, 38% of the people - more than 1 in 3 - do not have access to safe and clean drinking water. [1]

• Half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people suffering from water-related diseases. [2]

• As much as 80% of illnesses in poor countries are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions. [3]

• At least 1.8 million under 5 years of age die from water-related disease every year, or one every 20 seconds. [2]

• Women and girls in poor countries walk 6 kilometers (about 3.5 miles) a day, carrying 20 liters (about 42 pounds/20 kgs) of water. [4]

The clean water shortage is worldwide. There are numerous economical, environmental, and cultural reasons for the lack of safe drinking water. A Layman's Guide to Clean Water provides as an introduction to water, sanitation, and hygiene education, development, and technology in terms that are simple and easy to understand.

Vatican Publishes Document on Right to Water Access

Access to clean water is an essential human right that must be defended and protected, the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said in a new document.

Defending the right to clean water is part of the Catholic Church's promotion of the common good, "not some particular national agenda," the dicastery said, calling for "a management of water so as to ensure universal and sustainable access to it for the future of life, the planet and the human community."

The 46-page document, titled "Aqua Fons Vitae: Orientations on Water, Symbol of the Cry of the Poor and the Cry of the Earth," was released by the Vatican March 30 [2020].