Water-related disease.

That’s what kills 3.575 million people each year….a child every 20 seconds.

It’s staggering.

At the same time, it’s utterly amazing that all we have to do is turn on a faucet to get clean, fresh water (at least here in the United States, which is among the top five nations in the world with plentiful, renewable freshwater sources). Or just run into any store or gas station for a bottle of cold, refreshing H2O.

The utter convenience is something we often take for granted.

That’s not to say there are absolutely zero water issues—tainted wells where hydro-fracking is allowed is just one example. And we have many dying rivers and polluted lakes, etc. that need attention. But even so, clean water is still fairly accessible. For now.

But 884 million—almost a billion or one in eight—people lack access to clean water today.

Take a look (and please share) these infographics from water.org:

Before jumping into the next infographic, here are some ways you can help:

• >>Share this post (just use one or all of the share buttons on the top of this post).
• >>Take the water.org Change 10 Lives in 10 Days Challenge, which gives you a unique opportunity to make a difference.
• >> Donate your tweets or facebook posts to water.org.
• >> Give the gift of water. Just $25 brings someone clean water for life.

More facts about water (or lack thereof):

>> The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.

>> People living informal settlements (i.e. slums) often pay five to 10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city.

>> An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day.

(source: water.org)

Please help spread the word about this water crisis.

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