The Global Water Crisis
Millions live without access to safe water and available solutions are not sustainable
THE PROBLEM
The Water Crisis
Water sustains life. Yet, 785 million people in the world lack access to even a basic drinking-water service. The Global Water Crisis means 1 in 9 people around the world struggle to secure a glass of clean water every day. Let alone, finding enough of it to cook, clean or to grow food. The scarcity of this precious resource has implications on all aspects of daily life. The most important being the health costs caused by absent or poorly managed water sources. Each year, contaminated water claims 485,000 lives. We exist to change this entirely preventable statistic. Currently serving 115,000 people with 180 million litres of safe water, we are on a mission to alleviate rural water poverty, save and transform lives.
263 million
263 million people need to spend at least 30 minutes walking or queuing to collect water
200 million hours
Women and girls around the world spend 200 million hours each day collecting water
THE PROBLEM
Sub-Saharan African Water Crisis
Rural dwellers in the least developed regions bear the greatest brunt of water scarcity compared to urban populations in developed countries. There is no doubt that the access to water situation is worse in rural Sub-Saharan Africa than the rest of the world. Out of the global total, 336 million rural people are living without basic drinking water in the region. Globally, more than half of the 144 million people who still depend on surface water live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Among other things, this translates to the highest proportion of diarrhoeal deaths and the highest child mortality rate around the world.
400 million
More than 400 million people in rural sub-Saharan Africa don't have the facilities to wash their hands with soap and water
More than 40%
More than 40% of health facilities in the region have no water resources within 500 meters of their premises
THE PROBLEM
Water Handpump Failures
Long considered a symbol of development aid, the handpump has been the default solution to the water crisis for many years. It has served millions with safe water for decades. Yet, without a secure source of funds for ongoing maintenance, when this humble technology malfunctions, communities are left with no means to repair it. For this reason, the African continent is littered with thousands of defunct, rusted and abandoned water handpumps. It leaves rural communities with no choice but to go back to long, arduous walks to collect drinking water from unsafe, open water sources, putting their lives at risk. Alternative solutions are absolutely necessary, which is why Project Maji water charity addresses this issue through innovative technology and sustainable partnerships.
1 in 4 handpump
1 in 4 handpumps in rural sub-Saharan Africa are nonfunctional at any point in time
$1.2 billion
The cumulative effect of a rural water supply failure in Africa over the past 20 years represents a lost investment in excess of 1.2 billion dollars
