Happy Thanksgiving! Here at GWA we have much to be thankful for, but most of all we are grateful for the gift of clean water! GWA envisions a world where all people have access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The UN and WHO estimate that around the world, over 785 million people don’t have access to basic water services while more than 884 million people don’t have safe drinking water.
The good news is that since 2000, drinking water services improved from 61% to 71%, and sanitation services increased from 28% to 45%.
But there is still much work to be done. The WHO estimates that during Covid, three out of every ten people couldn’t wash their hands in their own homes due to lack of access to clean water.
We’re not on the straightaway yet, but we are making progress with projects like Panyebar in Guatemala and our arsenic removal work in West Bengal, India.
While most of us in developed countries have access to clean water, there is this little problem of a crumbling infrastructure that needs a great deal of attention here in the U.S., a problem that has been called “a ticking time bomb” by the former EPA Administrator, Carol Browner. Without a much needed investment in infrastructure, parts of the U.S. could find itself looking much like a developing country when it comes to water access. President Biden’s Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act will pump approximately 82 billion into the water sector, improving infrastructure and sustainability. What a great way to start a massively daunting project!
This year, Global Water Alliance is expanding its reach, funding additional projects both in the U.S. and abroad, supporting students in our affiliated universities at the World Water Forum in Dakar, and committing to more education via conferences and webinars while expanding our networking capabilities to increase our reach through activities such as World Toilet Day.
President, Christiaan Morssink and students from Temple’s EWB chapter at World Toilet Day
Board member Tom McKeon sitting atop “The Crapper”
Become a member of Global Water Alliance today where you will collaborate with our partners in the field, such as Engineers Without Borders, in bringing the gift of clean water to a family or community, help us to educate the up-and-coming groups of students and future water leaders who will ultimately take the baton on behalf of clean, safe water, and to finally eradicate the lack of access to WASH, water, sanitation and hygiene, for all people across the globe, all of which cannot be done without a united, consolidated effort.
Clean water is a right, not a privilege. Let’s all exercise our rights.
I’ll leave you with this final word from from GWA President, Christiaan Morssink.
Pam Lazos is an environmental lawyer with a passion for assuring access to clean water for all, a blogger, author of the novel Oil and Water, about oil spills and green technology, and the VP for Communications at Global Water Alliance. She practices laughter daily.