Dangers of Obtaining Clean Drinking Water

By Kayla Phan

Have you ever thought twice about how and when you would be able to get clean drinking water? People living in the United States probably never had to think about how they can safely get clean water. Water is a basic necessity to human life, and can be found anywhere. Water fountains can be found in any public building and area. However, in poor countries clean drinking water is not easily accessible as it is in the United States. Obtaining water in low income countries is not only difficult but it can also be a dangerous process.

Access to water is not as simple as turning a faucet in low income countries. A new international study published in BMJ Global Health shows that the process of obtaining water can be dangerous enough to cause injuries. Collecting drinking water in low and middle income countries can cause people to sustain serious injuries. Some injuries include falls, traffic accidents, animal attacks, and fights. Some fights can result in broken bones, spinal injuries, lacerations, and other physical injuries. Doctor Jo-Anne Geere, from UEA's School of Health Sciences, said: “Millions of people don't have the luxury of clean drinking water at their home, and they face many dangers before the water even touches their lips. Global research on water has largely focused on scarcity and health issues related to what is in the water, but the burden and risks of how water is retrieved and carried has been overlooked until now.”

The study also shows that the majority of people getting seriously injured are women. This study has highlighted the social and gender inequalities of a hidden global health challenge. The research team found that 13 percent of the respondents reported that they obtained an injury of some sort while collecting water. It was also found that women are twice as likely to be hurt as men. This shows gender and social inequality because women are expected to be fetching water because it is considered a “household” chore.

Not only is it difficult, even dangerous, to obtain water but having contaminated water as drinking water also leads to disease. Some of these diseases include cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio, which are all preventable diseases. This is a negative factor for low income countries because they do not have the resources and money to treat the diseases. This is why it is important to make clean drinking water more accessible to people living in low income countries. Each year 829,000 people are estimated to die from diarrhea from unsafe drinking-water, sanitation, and hand hygiene. There are also up to 297,000 children under the age of 5 years old that can be saved each year if these risk factors were addressed.

When clean water is made available and easily accessible, people can spend less time and effort physically collecting it, which means they can be productive in other ways. They would also be able to save a dangerous trip and avoid sustaining serious injuries. As can be seen, easily accessible drinking water is vital for the people living in low income countries. It can change the challenges of social and gender inequality because women can spend time fighting for equality instead of going through the dangerous process of obtaining water. Women would also be able to avoid serious injuries that can be life threatening. It can also prevent diseases and save thousands of lives.

Work Cited

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201104102213.htm https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water