670 liters - That's how much water fell as precipitation in Germany in 2022!
46,300 liters - that's how much water a German citizen uses every year!
1.4 billion liters - that's how much water there is on earth!
2/3 of the earth is covered with water!
There seems to be an abundance of water on our "blue" planet. And yet:
771 million people lack a basic supply of drinking water
2.2 million people die every year due to infectious diseases caused by contaminated water.
These figures show that water is distributed extremely unevenly around the world. And not just regionally, but also in terms of time. In some regions, people suffer from extreme flooding in some months, whereas they then have to survive months of dramatic water shortages.
Today, on International World Water Day, we therefore want to draw attention to the importance of water as a resource.
This year, the motto of the day is "Accelerating Change". This is intended to express the importance of national and international cooperation in order to achieve the goal set out in the 2030 Agenda of ensuring clean water for all by 2030.
Access to clean water is essential for survival and healthy development in many respects. Drinking contaminated water increases the risk of contracting infectious diseases enormously. Sufficient hygiene is also only possible with clean water. Children are particularly affected by the dangers: Every day, more than 1,000 children under the age of five die worldwide from diseases caused by contaminated water, a lack of sanitary facilities and poor hygiene.
A lack of water also prevents schooling in many cases: 42% of schools worldwide do not have sanitary facilities. Girls in particular therefore often stay away from school during their menstruation.
Climate change is making the situation even worse in many places. Almost 500 million children live in areas that will be exposed to a higher risk of flooding in the future. Today, 450 million children already live in regions with high or extremely high water insecurity. It is estimated that by 2040, almost one in four children in the world will live in an area affected by extreme drought.
In our projects, we try to improve this situation through targeted measures. The first priority is to establish and maintain hygiene standards in order to prevent further contamination of the water. For example, both in Myanmar regular hygiene training courses are held for medical staff in both Tanzania. In addition, with the help of local partners, we were able to install signs in various public facilities, e.g. for proper hand washing. In Tanzania, we also supported the construction of a drinking fountain in Nyangao last year.
