Drinking water is taken for granted by much of the developed world. Though water supplies around the world are stressed, people in developed countries take it for granted they'll have clean, fresh water available any time they want it. Water quality is an increasingly difficult problem. Fresh water is dwindling. Water conservation is necessary so our precious water resources are preserved and available for more of the planet's population.
Even celebrities are coming into the knowledge that not everyone in the world has clean drinking water. Academy Award winner, Hilary Swank, helped to kick off the first leg of a worldwide run to raise the awareness of the fact that over a billion people do not have access to clean drinking water. The group that organized the 15,200 miles run, Blue Planet Run Foundation, was created to raise awareness and find ways to increase the numbers of people who have clean drinking water. What ways are Blue Planet Run Foundation working to make clean water available to everyone in the world?
The purpose is to raise awareness of the drinking water situation around the world. Presently there are 1.1 billion people who don't have access to clean drinking water. The around-the-world run is helping to publicize this problem, to make sure that everyone knows that drinking water is not something that should be taken for granted and to show that there are solutions to help decrease this problem. Each runner is running 10 miles of the little over 15 thousands miles over a period of 95 days.
Blue Planet Run has a mission to provide clean drinking water to over 200 million people by the year 2027. They are doing this through many different avenues, including trying to work cooperatively and openly with other organizations. This foundation has already funded over 130 safe water projects to aid the citizens of developing countries. They are trying to make an impact upon the water situation all over the world.
One-sixth of the citizens of the world do not have clean drinking water. Think of it like this: These people do not have the luxury of going into their kitchen, turning on their faucet, and getting a glass of clean drinking water. For many people, the process of getting water takes hours of walking to get to a water source and then you have to carry a heavy water container home and still not have healthy, clean drinking water. This process has to be done daily, if not several times a day.
Did you know that half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people who have illnesses that are caused by waterborne diseases? This is a sobering fact that should cause you to want to make a difference in the lives of these people. Infants, children, adults, and the elderly are being impacted every single day with many different health effects that are caused by unclean drinking water. A little over 2 million people die every year due to waterborne diseases. This is 6000 people of every age, every single day of every single year who die because of inadequate clean, accessible water supplies.
Hilary Swank is doing a good thing with her celebrity status. She is helping bring this water situation to the attention of the world. Those of us in developed countries take our water supply for granted. As long as it flows through the faucet, we give it no thought. Even Swank said that she had taken the miracle of clean drinking water "for granted far too many times" -- but no more.
Be thankful for the clean drinking water you have, and quit wasting it. Be more conserving of your water so people without clean water supplies have a chance of having some.
