Water Crisis

“We could have most of the modern conveniences taken away from us, including electricity, cars, computers, and education, and we could still survive and perhaps even thrive. However, if you take away water and proper sanitation, then our health and the health of our children is threatened. If we lose our health, then we lose our motivation and our ability to go out and be productive. If we are no longer productive, and can’t support our family, then we have no dignity and no hope-no hope for the future, for our children, or for a better life. This is the life faced by nearly one billion people who live in the world without access to pure drinking water.”

“The Hole in Our Gospel:What does God Expect of Us?” – Richard Stearn
 

Sbutu, a 19 year old mother of two (Mgame and Tempte) in Bantu,Ethiopia , spends most of her day walking back and forth to a water source to obtain water for her family.  She makes the trip, a 30 minute walk each way, carrying 5 gallons of water on each trip.  She manages to squeeze in 5 to 6 trips daily, accounting for 5 to 6 hours of her day-every day-in order to provide 25 to 30 gallons of water for her family daily.  The average American uses 350 gallons of water every day.  The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 200 million man-hours of labor are wasted everyday by people walking back and forth to a water source to obtain water for their survival.   Often the water sources that mothers like Sbutu visit contain contaminated water, and they have to make a terrible choice.  They must choose whether to watch their children die of thirst, or they must give their children tainted water, and risk watching them die of a water borne illness.  The question we must ask ourselves is this, “What kind of a choice is that for a parent to have to make?” Yet, millions of parents do just that, every day.  Hope Springs Water intends to positively impact that fact.  With your help, by drinking Hope Springs Water when you drink bottled water, or by making a tax deductible donation to our worthy cause, we can, indeed, collectively make a difference for these parents.

Child deaths within their first 5 years

  • U.S. and Europe:  2 out of 1000
  • Africa: 165 out of 1000
  • Sierra Leone: 282  out of 1000 (the worst infant mortality rate  in the world)

Malnutrition is responsible for about half of those deaths, and unsafe drinking water runs a close second as a cause for childhood death.It is estimated that as many as one-half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by people with a water-related illness.


Water Usage 

  • The average American family uses about 300 gallons of water a day.
    300 Gallons = 2000 pounds = 1 ton = 50 trips to a water source
  • 30 Gallons = 250 pounds = 5 trips to a water source = 10 hours of labor if source is 2 hours away

The constant traveling and carrying  water devastates the productivity of people in areas lacking  access to water.

Walk for Water

Women and children in developing countries invest 200 million hours a day fetching water. That’s equal to a full-time work force of 25 million people fetching water for 8 hours a day , 7 days a week.
These hours could be spent by the adults earning an income or making a contribution to the family.  The children, who could spend these same hours in school are, instead, spending their time hauling water. Many children are also unable to attend school because they are chronically sick from their exposure to impure water.