Water And Sanitation Problems

Understanding sanitation problems is an important step in eliminating them.

Water and sanitation problems. The discharge of untreated waste into water systems is one of the most common sanitation problems. Sanitation problems are particularly difficult for people with impaired immunity the elderly and the very young. The bacterial infection trachoma generally comes from contaminated water and is a leading cause of blindness in the world. The real problem in fact is finance.

This is causing unnecessary disease and death. This creates multiple issues such as polluting drinking water creating a breeding ground for insects that spread disease and exposing. Other common wash related diseases include cholera typhoid and dysentery. There is the potential to save the lives of the 829 000 people who currently die every year from diseases directly caused by unsafe water inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene practices and we could also drastically reduce child malnourishment and help alleviate physical and mental under development.

Sanitation is an even bigger problem than lack of water with 2 5 billion people worldwide suffering from lack of a good enough toilet or latrine. While substantial progress has been made in increasing access to clean drinking water and sanitation billions of people mostly in rural areas still lack these basic services. The annual losses associated with inadequate water and sanitation services currently total some us 260 billion 1 5 percent of global gross domestic product gdp per year whereas every dollar invested in water and sanitation brings a four fold return in health economic and educational outcomes all of which can serve a government s broader economic and social agenda. Using antibacterial wipes can help prevent the spread of germs.

Getting hold of clean water isn t good enough if the water is being made dirty because there are no toilets and toilets aren t good enough if there is no hygiene promotion to get whole communities to change the habits of generations and use the latrines. If we provide affordable equipment and education in hygiene practices we can stop this senseless suffering and loss of life. For too long governments have seen water and sanitation as a drain on national budgets rather than as an investment opportunity. Access to safe water and sanitation can quickly turn problems into potential empowering people with time for school and work and contributing to improved health for women children and families around the world.

The coupled impact of rapid urbanization and unsustainable growth has resulted in extreme measures where open defecation and open dumping of household waste has become the norm in the slums of mumbai. Although huge strides have been made with access to clean drinking water lack of sanitation is undermining these advances. And again step back to consider what life without clean water and adequate sanitation would be like. One in three people live without sanitation.