“The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses. An adequate amount of safe water is necessary to prevent death from dehydration, reduce the risk of water-related disease and provide for consumption, cooking, personal and domestic hygienic requirements”.
(General Comment 15, CESR, 2002 as quoted from the World Water Council website http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/index.php?id=25)
- 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water. (World Water Council)
- 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation. (2002, UNICEF/WHO JMP 2004)
- 1.8 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases. (World Water Council)
- 3,900 children die every day from water born diseases. (WHO 2004)
In BULA's small corner of the world, we are doing everything we can to provide clean water for drinking and sanitation to decrease disease and dehydration among the children and communities we assist. At St. Kizito Primary School, BULA built a 30,000 gallon underground water tank to store rain water from the roof. This tank provides a consistent source of water for the 150 students at the school, even during the dry season. The water from the tank can be pumped into jerry cans and then poured into Bio-sand water filters for treatment. We use a color coordinated system: yellow jerry cans for the water from the tank and blue jerry cans to indicate water that is safe for drinking. This clean water is also used for cooking the food in the new lunch program that began last term. There is an additional water tank near the latrines that also collects rain water from the roof. This water is primarily used for hand washing.
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