Water Facts: the Water-Poverty Connection • 80 percent of disease in two-thirds of the world is related to poor drinking water and sanitation. • One-third of the world’s households must use water sources outside the home. Girls and women in East Africa now walk an average of 21 minutes from home just to get water. • The world is running out of water. Half the world’s poorest countries will face moderate to severe water shortages by the year 2025. • Around the world there is a cumulative pollution of aquifers and water sources by agricultural, industrial and mining waste. • Reduction in water-retention capacity of the earth’s soil is due to 80% of the forests of the world being destroyed. • Poor management of water resources has led to degradation of the environment and loss of natural resources on which people in rural and remote areas depend for livelihood. • Excessive consumption in the North, and wasteful overuse, especially by agribusiness, has significantly depleted the world’s water resources. One toilet flush uses as much water as the average person in a developing country uses for a whole day’s drinking, cooking, washing and cleaning! • Effects of global warming, such as rising sea levels and altered seasonal patterns, are having a debilitating impact on freshwater resources. Return to Earth Day 2003 Index Return to Earth Day Sunday Index