TITLE PAGE

Commented [TL1]: Not sure of we need one

 Did you know that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with Commented [TL2]: Insert Page number and last name on
top right
absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world’s population could be living under water

stressed conditions? This statistic is one of many completed by the United Nations Department

of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). The price to pay for consuming impure water is

higher than anyone would like to pay, and in developing countries it can cost a child their life.

Another statistic completed by UNDESA states that “every minute a child dies of a water-related Commented [TL3]: Maybe say “UNDESA also states that,”
to prevent using the word statistic multiple times
disease,” and on a larger scale, “more than 840,000 people die each year from water-related

illness.” Safe drinking water is most often taken for granted in first-world countries such as the

United States, Australia, Canada, and several others. For the less fortunate, clean water would be

much more appreciated than it is for us, here in the United States. Every drop of clean,

freshwater matters to those who water is not easily accessible to.

At the beginning of my research, I was not aware of just how much efforts have been put

into improving the quality of life for the under-developed nations. The United States

Government Accountability Office wrote an article in 2010 that addressed what acts and other

efforts were put in place to improve the sanitation and water conflicts in certain parts of the

world. The regions in particular that I have seen the most research on include: sub-Saharan

Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and some of the Pacific regions. Some examples of

the relief efforts include “installing community water taps, building latrines, and constructing

major water treatment plants” (GAO 1). The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005

is the reason the United States was a part in creating a solution for this problem. This Act “made

access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries a U.S. foreign assistance policy

objective” (GAO 1). This act also requires the designation of higher priority to countries who are

in more need of aid than other countries. This is to ensure that countries in need can be given
more resources to improve the quality of life quicker. This logic makes sense and is

understandable as to why the policy states this. Between 2008 and 2009, over 300 million dollars

were used on activities that were under the specifications of the act. This 300 million included

125 million that went to sub-Saharan Africa alone. Ethiopia, Ecuador, Haiti, Jordan, Kenya, and

Sudan were 6 countries where United States Government officials traveled to assist in water and

sanitation efforts. While these officials were in these countries, they were interviewed on what

they were doing with government funds to aid the native people in this crisis. Another resource Commented [TL4]: Good summarization

viewed to gather information on this cause was how much government funds went to a separate

nine places to aid the people affected with water and sanitation problems.

“Access to clean water and basic sanitation is essential for human health and

socioeconomic development; lack of clean water and basic sanitation increases the prevalence of

disease, malnutrition, and gender disparities. Every day, millions of people around the world

consume drinking water from sources such as rivers and ponds and use either no or unhygienic

sanitation facilities” (GAO 4). One of the main reasons I chose to include quotes from this article Commented [TL5]: Is this quote too long? What is the
main point to get out of it?
is because of the importance of the topic at hand. Access to clean water and basic sanitation

really is essential for human health. Without clean water and basic sanitation, diseases spread

extremely rapid and this leads to the decline of health. As the health and well-being of society is

dropping, the life expectancy of that region will correspondingly drop. Life expectancy is

observed, and it gives a general idea of the quality of life for people in that region. If people are

dying off at only 50 or 60 years old, no one is going to want to stay in that country because they

obviously are not as developed as other countries, and they do not have the same technology,

resources, or availability as the well-developed countries. Water and basic sanitation are two of

the most important things that a country can provide for its people. Most of these countries have
limited access to clean water, but the key is to improve this to improved amount of access and

the accessibility of more clean water. More clean water allows countries to be healthier, safer,

and allows for economic growth with the improved living conditions.

Taking a closer look into sanitation problems, the same GAO study introduces the idea

that not everyone knows how to practice good hygiene. “Direct services delivered by some

USAID missions in sub-Saharan Africa include school-based activities as part of broad

community water and sanitation programs, emphasizing improvement of sanitation and hygiene

to create a healthy learning environment for children” (GAO 9). To prove that every drop

matters, in this region rainwater basins are used to collect the rainwater and it is then used to

increase the amount of water that households can use for the time being. Between 2006 and

2009, approximately 45% of people using the USAID’s help with water and sanitation were in

North Africa and in the Middle East. One downfall of the amount of emphasis placed on the

quality of water is that there has been a decreased emphasis on how to manage the water they

have been given accessibility to. This is understandable considering how people who have never

been exposed to an abundance of clean water would not know how to handle it responsibly. For

example, if a young adult has never had any experience handling money or learning the value of

money, he/she will not know how to spend the money wisely as not to waste it on unnecessary

items. The USAID program will then have to teach people in the affected regions how to be

responsible with the amount of water they have been given access to.

With the aid of government associations coming in to improve the quality of life, this is

going to be appealing to outside investors to see the country as a place to grow their industry and

provide a safe environment for their employees to live in and build families in to create safe

communities. These industries will provide room for economic growth for countries who often-
times fend for themselves as far as a market economy comes. “These “base-of-the-pyramid”

markets grow out of exclusion. They are the markets of the unserved—people that public

services have failed to provide for and for whom internationally recognized notions of improved

services are out of reach—leading them to look to self-supply. Such markets include the 1 billion

people who still practice open defecation, the 2.5 billion people who use shared or unimproved

sanitation facilities, and the 768 million people who use an unimproved source for drinking

water” (World Bank Group xiii). Open defecation is the number one cause of spreading of Commented [TL6]: Possibly shorten quote again and use
”…” to make the point easily recognizable
diseases in these regions. If any of the 1 billion people practicing open defecation overlap in any

way with the 2.5 billion who use shared or unimproved sanitation facilities, this leads to an

extremely disgusting environment that cannot be safe for anyone. For the 768 million people

who are using an unimproved facility to get drinking water, this means that the water could be

polluted with rust, dirt, and other pollutants that the water may have come into contact with. The

markets of these nations are going to suffer the most when it comes to dealing with water

availability rising and the growing demand for water as well as climate change. Having a stable

economy is really important for these communities so they do not suffer from the effects of the

changing technologies.

One of the most amazing facts I came across when researching for this topic stated that

the potential to have a great economy is, in fact, there. These countries simply do not have the

financial resources or the geographical resources to excel in the areas of water and sanitation.

This is where aid from the United States is most helpful. “With respect to the countries studied

here, about 20 million people are projected to get their water from rural piped water schemes

managed by the private sector by 2025—that is 10 times the current number of customers, a

market worth at least $90 million a year” (World Bank Group xiii). If 20 million people get
water pumped to their communities, sanitation will improve. With this research, only 2 million

people have access to clean drinking water currently, which is why it is so important to get these

numbers higher. Because someone has taken the time and spent the money to invest in poor

nations, the lives of 20 million people will drastically change. The economy will boost, leading

to more money in the hands of the people. With families having more money, they will continue

to invest it into their economy and the cycle will continue to keep up the economy. A boosting

economy is going to increase its marketability and desirability. First-world countries such as the

United States, China, Sweden, Denmark, and other European countries are going to see the

booming economy as a chance to introduce modern forms of sanitation and freshwater resources

to these people, which will only improve the economy.

There is one downfall to these economies taking in aid and products from these superior

countries. The poor are willing to pay for products and the value of them, but they do not want to

pay for inferior quality and service. If they are going to drop a bunch of money on something so

big as a community well for better quality drinking water, they want their money to go to a

product that is going to last a very long time. This logic makes sense, as it should make sense to

anyone in the working-class of the United States. The people of Bangladesh, Tanzania, Peru, and

Indonesia understand the concept that nothing is handed to them and so they have worked hard

for the money that they do have, thus making them wary of what they spend their money on. If

workers can assure the people of these nations that they are getting better quality water than that

of what they currently have, then the poor are going to be more open to spending the money on

the project. Because cost is a large barrier for most of the people in these countries, sanitation is

not a top priority. For these reasons, first-world countries are going to make it a priority to

introduce flushing toilets and more options of running water. Running water is going to
introduce its own issues, such as teaching people hygiene. Hygiene, as well as running water and

better sanitation, is going to drastically improve the quality of life and decrease the spread of

disease. Improving these two conditions alone will change lives of everyone affected by these

‘new’ technologies. Commented [TL7]: Overall, VERY good! Not much to say
in the end. Research was used tremendously well!