Water is an essential resource in the lives of all creatures. Because of this, many scientists believe that where water has been found, there was at one point life. In fact, it is so essential that “the average municipal use in the United States is about 150 gal (568 l) per person per day, though the rate can be higher than 350 gal (1324 l) in some locations” (Goings). When about 70% of Earth is covered in water, lacking this resource does not seem like it should pose a problem. However, less than 3% of this water is freshwater , which is the only kind of water that can be used for drinking (Goings). In other areas of the world, people are facing the perturbing issue of lacking clean freshwater. One example of a country greatly affected by …show more content…
In a report by Ramnath Subbaramana and Sharmila L Murthy, the authors explain that Indian slums are categorized by the government as either notified or non-notified (815). Notified slums are recognized by the government, and people living in them typically have access to running water. However, there are more slums in India that are non-notified: “In 2012, 59% of slum settlements in India were non-notified” (815). Since people living in non-notified slums don’t have tap water, they often resort to tapping into city water pipes out of desperation. Tapping into these pipes increases risk of cross-contamination of the water. Not only is their water unsafe after this, the water of people using city water is also contaminated. The other option these citizens in some slums often have to take is buying water from street vendors. However, the water that is being sold by these vendors can be more than 40 times the price paid by residents of non-notified slums and more than 30 times the price that other city residents pay. If the government recognized non-notified slums, the issue citizens face of lacking safe water could be partly …show more content…
This is because “unclean water poses significant risks of diarrhoea, opportunistic infections, and consequent malnutrition” (Fledderjohann, et al. 1). In India, 1.5 million children die of diarrhea alone each year, which is often caused by dehydration (Pathak 75). In a scientific study, it was found that 13 million children aged 6-59 months received no water in the last 24 hours (Fledderjohann, et al. 1). Half of those children were reported to have drank nothing at all. Out of the other half, many were offered sugary drinks in place of water (2). These drinks do not hydrate children as well as water would, and pose health concerns among all groups. The conductors of the study report, “intake of sugar- sweetened beverages may be preferable to consuming no fluids at all in the short-term; however, in the long-term, excessive sugar consumption has been tied to risk of non-communicable diseases such as obesity and diabetes” (2). Since children do not have access to clean water, they drink nothing at all or rely on sugary drinks that can cause health problems in their future.
Adults are also affected by unclean water in the same way, but they are not at as high of a risk for death. For adults, water is used in other ways than for children, such as cooking and bathing their children. Children and women typically require more water to ensure basic hygiene (Subbaraman, et al 815). When clean water is