How We Can Make A Difference In A World Water Crisis

I am truly touched and affected when I come across companies and organizations doing something to actually change the world and save lives.  Today I was directed to CSDW.org (of Proctor & Gamble), and I learned some staggering facts as well as some fabulous resolutions.  CSDW (Children’s Safe Drinking Water) is a program designed to bring safer water to a big part of the world.

It took a while to process some of the following information and how terribly dangerous many communities water supplies are.

• More than one billion people do not have access to safe water.
• Diarrhea caused by drinking contaminated water remains a leading cause of illness and death among infants and children in the developing world.
• About 1.8 million children die every year due to diarrheal diseases.
• More children die from diarrheal illnesses like cholera and dysentery than from HIV/AIDS or malaria combined.
• P&G has collaborated with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) since 1995 to develop safe drinking water systems that people can easily use in their homes.
• There is conclusive evidence that simple, low-cost interventions at the community level can dramatically improve the quality of household stored water and greatly reduce the risk of diarrheal disease and death.
• It is well documented that simply providing safe, clean, drinkable water can reduce deadly diarrhea and other devastating diseases by about 50%.

To combat this hazardous situation, the CSDW is distributing the PUR Packet (a product of PUR), to clean up to 10 liters of water at a time.  The PUR Packet is exceptionally more useful in these cultures because a little bit goes a long way; they are also a greener response to this problem by saving on the countless water bottles sent to these struggling cultures. P&G works with organizations like PSI, CARE, World Vision, Aquaya Institute, USAID, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the International Council of Nurses, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, Save the Children, Samaritan’s Purse, and Americares; these organizations and the CSDW are over half way to their goal of cleaning 4 billion liters of water before 2012.

If you would like to help this global movement, then don’t wait another minute.  The CSDW accepts PayPal.  Even small contributions can make a huge difference.  One PUR Packet cleans 10 Liters of water, and costs 10¢.  $1.00 will provide one child with clean water for 50 days, $7.50 can provide that same child with clean water for a year, and $30.00 gives one family clean water for a full year.