|
|
 |
|
The World of Child 6 Billion
WATERPresentation GuideKey Issue(s):
Access to safe water and sanitation Discussion Openers
1. What information is the graph presenting?
2. What conclusions can you make from the data provided?
3. Which of those conclusions are based on fact and which are inferred?
4. What further information would you need to test your conclusions?
view full-size graph
| | Access to Safe Water and Adequate Sanitation for Major Regions of the World [Graph 4] - In Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, and South Asia, the majority of people do not have access to safe water. More than one-quarter do not have access to safe water in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- In developing countries overall, less than half of the population has access to safe water. In the 48 countries that UNICEF designates as "least developed"* just over one-third of the population has safe water.
- In developing countries overall, over one-quarter of the population does not have access to adequate sanitation.** In the least developed countries, 44 percent do not.
- In 1997, over 90 percent of all community water systems in the U.S. had no violations of any health-based drinking water standard.
* "Least developed" countries refers to a subset of 48 countries defined by the UN as "developing." Included in this category are countries in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. A complete list is included in Country Designations.
** Adequate sanitation refers to access to a toilet that prevents human, or animal or insect contact with human waste. | | | | |
view full-size graph
| | Changes in Access to Safe Water [Graph 5] Access to safe water has an enormous effect on the level and type of illnesses in a community. This graph shows access to safe water when world population reached the 5 billion mark in the late 1980s and the most recent data available at the end of the 1990s. (The six countries shown are those highlighted in The World of Child 6 Billion Discussion Guide.) - Since world population reached 5 billion, access to a supply of safe water improved in five of the six countries.
- Less than half of the population in Laos and Burkina Faso have safe water. In Laos access has more than doubled since the late 1980s when world population reached 5 billion. On the other hand, access dropped by more than one-third in Burkina Faso.
|
Discussion - How can access to safe water be expanded? (Examples include locating new sources, purifying existing sources, and building new taps.)
- What can we do to conserve or purify water in our community? Is there a need to do this locally?
Other Topics for Extension: - What will it mean to Child 6 Billion if his or her drinking water is not safe?
- Where does your water at home come from? Does it come straight from the source or does it need to be treated in any way first?
- List what you use water for. How much do you use each day? How could you reduce that amount?
- Research diseases spread by water and how to prevent them. Which are especially deadly? (One example is cholera.)
Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, America�s Drinking Water in 1997.
|
|
