Lasting Solutions for Clean Drinking Water

Two billion people worldwide struggle to find water every day!

A sobering new report released by GFA World -- in the wake of World Water Day, held on March 22 -- reveals that two billion people globally are struggling to find enough water to survive.

Approximately 40 percent of the world’s land surface is desert or semi-arid, placing about two billion people -- one in every four people on the planet -- in peril, says the report, entitled Solving the World Water Crisis for Good: Lasting Solutions Can Defeat an Age-Old Problem.

“In many places, there simply isn’t enough water, and the water that people do have is contaminated,” says Dr. KP Yohannan, whose mission has helped the extreme poor for four decades.

Millions of people rely on dirty ponds for drinking and washing, but the water often contains dangerous toxins or pathogens, says the report.

“People have to choose between drinking tainted water and going thirsty -- it’s sobering,” Yohannan said.

Drinking contaminated water can lead to deadly waterborne diseases such as typhoid, hepatitis A, and diarrhea. Globally, diarrhea kills almost 2,200 children every day, according to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

“Despite the often devastating consequences, millions of people {mainly women and children} start each day with a long trek on foot to the nearest waterhole, possibly miles away,” Yohannan shares. “Life for them becomes a dreary quest for survival.”

Going Deep, Finding Lasting Solutions

GFA-supported teams have led the way in drilling deep wells -- up to 450 metres in depth -- to tap plentiful underground reserves and bring reliable, clean water to thousands of villages where families used to drink from filthy ponds.

These deep wells, known as Jesus Wells, supply year-round clean water to villages prone to drought and water shortages, with each well serving an average of 300 people each day!

Because local people receive training to maintain the wells, the water keeps flowing. One team recently found a Jesus Well still going strong after 20 years, transforming the lives of hundreds of villagers.

Another clean water solution -- the portable BioSand filter, costing just $30 -- removes most contaminants from dirty water, making it 98 percent pure, the report says.

In the past 12 years, GFA-supported teams have distributed more than 73,000 of these household filters, changing the lives of impoverished villagers like Nirmala, whose family often got sick drinking from a polluted pond.

Even though improvements and advances in water-purification technology have been made, the report says much more needs to be done to solve the world’s water crisis. “The best solutions arise from cooperative efforts that involve (the local people),” it says.

“By God’s grace, GFA World has been part of the solution for many years now,” said Yohannan. “People are experiencing the life of Christ because of the gift of clean water.”

Be part of the global water crisis solution >>> GFA’s Clean Water Ministry!

An encouraging story >>> Jesus Well Relieves Water Crisis