By providing a community with safe drinking water, disease rates can drop by up to 88% virtually overnight! Child mortality rates can drop up to 90%- overnight! Clean water also plays an incredibly critical role in effectively treating and managing HIV/AIDS in rural communities. The Kingdom of eSwatini, for example, has the single-highest-density population of HIV/AIDS in the world. For a person with HIV/AIDS, even if you have access to medical treatment or antiretroviral medication, but are still forced to drink dirty water from contaminated sources, the diseases in the water you drink will actually kill you faster than AIDS itself.
Women and children spend on average six to eight hours each day walking to fetch water. The average distance that women and children in developing communities walk to fetch water is 3.75 miles. The time children spend collecting water keeps them from going to school and getting an education.
The amount that disease rates can drop virtually overnight by providing safe drinking water.
Agriculture accounts for 70% of all water consumption worldwide.
Carrying a jerry can that weighs 44 pounds over 3.75 miles is incredibly physically demanding.