The UN Year of Sanitation is in 2008.   More than one billion people currently lack safe drinking water in the developing world, and more than 2.6 billion live without adequate sanitation facilities.  This under-recognized crisis kills up to 5 million people each year and several billion more are sickened, primarily in rural and peri-urban areas.  • Over 4,500 children each day die from mostly preventable waterborne diseases, primarily diarrhea. • Over 80 percent of the developing world's illnesses are caused by unsafe water and inadequate sanitation. • The social and economic costs associated with this water-related death and disease prevent developing ...

The UN Year of Sanitation is in 2008.   More than one billion people currently lack safe drinking water in the developing world, and more than 2.6 billion live without adequate sanitation facilities.  This under-recognized crisis kills up to 5 million people each year and several billion more are sickened, primarily in rural and peri-urban areas.
 
• Over 4,500 children each day die from mostly preventable waterborne diseases, primarily
diarrhea.
• Over 80 percent of the developing world's illnesses are caused by unsafe water and inadequate
sanitation.
• The social and economic costs associated with this water-related death and disease prevent
developing countries from reducing poverty and increasing their standards of living. 
 
Unsafe water and inadequate sanitation are the world’s biggest public health concerns, and yet the issue
receives very little attention.
 
The cost of failing to properly address the above gaps in coverage of safe water and sanitation is
significantly higher that the cost of meeting this challenge.  
 
The good news is that currently 83% of the world has access to safe, affordable and sustainable drinking water while 60% has access to improved sanitation.  These numbers indicate that enormous progress is being made due to the collective efforts of governments, businesses, foundations and nongovernmental organizations.  There is also a growing realization that safe drinking water is the single issue which, if handled properly, will both save millions of lives and serve as a point of entry for any number of subsequent development challenges such as poverty education and environmental protection.  

 
The solution includes:
 
• channeling additional financial resources into the sector from various constituencies (e.g.
governments, corporations, foundations and individuals, civic and religious organizations);
• implementing projects which are sustainable and appropriate within the local cultural, technical,
financial and management contexts; and
• generating increasing political will in developed and developing countries.


Information from Water Advocates.

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