AFAMILY of six needs 60 to 90 litres of water a day, just for basic drinking, cooking and keeping clean. Are you surprised at this figure? But given the fact that every time we flush the toilet we use four litres of water, you might agree that the above estimation is minimal.
Getting a water supply is easy for those of us living in an affluent city. Just think of how many water taps you have at home. However, for the half of the world's people living in poor countries, getting enough water to meet the basic need of drinking and personal hygiene is actually a daily struggle.
People must rely on inadequate or polluted sources such as urban stand-pipes, or rivers, lakes and wells.
To get water from these sources is no easy task. In the highland area of Ethiopia, for example, it can take up as much as a day for women to fetch water for their families.
According to the World Health Organisation, 80 per cent of all sickness and disease in developing countries results from unsafe water or inadequate sanitation.
Diarrhoeal diseases, which are spread by drinking or washing hands, food or utensils in contaminated water, are responsible for three million deaths each year.