Fresh water is a major focus of daily life in the village. Access to clean drinking water is directly related to reduction in poverty. World-wide over 2 billion people are affected by water scarcity. In 2010 the United Nations recognized a human right to drinking water. This is an important step because there is often a conflict between human need versus commercial or agricultural water consumption.
The village I stayed in was fortunate in that they have several pumps, or boreholes, that provide fresh water throughout the year. There were two pumps in my location and they were almost always in use. In sub-saharan Africa the work of acquiring and transporting water falls largely to women and girls.
This represents my daily water allotment. An experience I highly recommend is to try hauling your own water for a couple of days. To get the full effect you should fill a couple buckets from a hose and then carry them around the block. Try limiting yourself to those two buckets for everything. I managed to get my consumption down to 5 gallons per day, which is what the UN considers minimal. That included drinking, cooking, cleaning, and one bucket bath per day. 5 gallons weighs about 40 pounds which is about as much as you would want to carry in one trip.
By comparison, the average American consumes 80 gallons per day. That's a big difference. If you had to carry 80 gallons it would weigh 640 pounds. You would not be hauling that by hand. If you flush a toilet 3 times in a day, you have already exceeded the 5 gallon limit. If you take a shower for more than two minutes you have exceeded the 5 gallon limit. You can start to understand the stark differences in water consumption and why simple transportation of water is such a big deal in an african village.
It is also important to remember that clean water is a finite resource on our planet, and a resource that is particularly threatened by climate change. We don't think about it too much in Ithaca, but when you live in an area with no precipitation for 9 - 10 months of the year, it is always in your mind.
It is also important to remember that clean water is a finite resource on our planet, and a resource that is particularly threatened by climate change. We don't think about it too much in Ithaca, but when you live in an area with no precipitation for 9 - 10 months of the year, it is always in your mind.
