Myth vs. Fact
FACTS
Water Crises (WHO/UNICEF 2000, WHO 2002)
Less than 1% of the Earth’s total water is available fresh water, the rest is salt water, locked in ice caps, or inaccessible.
Population without access to adequate water supply: 1.1 billion people (one-sixth of world population).
Water is implicated in 80% of all sickness and diseases worldwide.
19% of deaths from infection disease worldwide are water-related and water-related diseases contribute to nearly 4 million child deaths each year.
Major Diseases Transmitted by Water (Water-borne Diseases): Cholera, Typhoid, Dysentery, Infectious Hepatitis, Giardias
The 25,000 people dying daily from contaminated water is like a loaded 747 passenger jet crashing every 30 minutes around the clock day and night.
MYTHS
Myth: The poor do not need safe water because they get “used to their water” or “develop immunity to the diseases that are in the water”.
Fact: While it is true that the body can develop some resistance to e-coli; the body does not necessarily develop immunity to cholera, hepatitis, dysentery, guinea worm or typhoid.
Myth: Water that is consumed will not lead to disease because it looks clean.
Fact: The average size of bacteria is between 0.2 to 1.5 microns with some as large as 10 microns. Viruses are even smaller with an average size between 0.004 and 0.100 microns. These biologicals cannot be seen by the naked eye.
Myth: The poor can not use “such and such” technology because:
- They are ignorant.
- They are uneducated.
- They don’t know how to take care of anything.
- If they don’t make it themselves out of what they have available, they won’t use it.
- They are poor.
- They don’t have the money for anything.
- If we help them, it will make them dependent.
- We don’t have the money to help them even if we want to.
Fact: Forcing people to live without things from the outside ultimately makes people more dependent, not less dependent. This artificial existence is plagued by perpetual disease, poverty, illiteracy, high infant mortality, low life expectancy, and hopelessness. This cycle needs to be broken. The real world experience of New Life International with over 800 water purifiers in 58 countries in very poor cultures is that locals can be taught to operate the water purifier, their health improves and the cycle can be broken.
Water Technology
Chlorination is one of the most effective methods for making water safe for consumption. No other treatment has a track record that compares with chlorination.
Chlorination has saved more lives than, perhaps, any other technology; protecting the United States and other countries for nearly a century.
Chlorination has the unique feature of residual chlorine. It sanitizes plumbing, medical equipment, fabrics and water containers.
Some of the traditional methods for purifying water are problematic in the areas of effectiveness, sustainability, and particularly scalability. A few of these water treatment technologies include:
- Boiling water, which requires a lot of fuel and does not prevent re-contamination from the container.
- Sand filters, which while helpful do not adequately remove all waterborne pathogens.
- Filters, which allow viruses to pass right through.
- Ultraviolet treatments, which are ineffective if the water is not clear.
- Ozone, which does not have any residual treatment effects.
With any of these technologies, subsequent re-contamination is a recurring issue.
A final reality: bottled water is too expensive for the poor.