With World Water Day less than a week away on Tuesday, March 22, a global water crisis looms over the world. Countries are facing the effects of a hotter, drier, and more polluted climate that poses serious risks to an already thirsty planet. A total of 663 million people lack access to clean water in the world, concentrated in developing countries where 80% of deaths and 443 million missed school days are attributed to water-borne illnesses. Water intensive agriculture and livestock industries are also suffering, causing crop shortages, social conflict around water management, and price surges. If climate change continues to disrupt weather patterns, the most vulnerable populations could be put into an even more precarious position. To combat this trend, young activists around the world are mobilizing. One organization that’s leading the way is the Thirst Project.
The Thirst Project aims to help end the global water crisis by 2030. How does it plan to do this? By engaging the youth of the world to create clean water projects. To date 450,000 students have been engaged to raise funds and support for the construction of 1, 754 water projects, bringing water to 285, 599 people in 13 countries! This is due to an innovative outreach program that includes interactive campaigns like “Dirty Little Secret” in which youth were asked to carry a bottle of dirty water with them to spark conversation about water inequality, or “Chalk About It” where students “chalk” facts about the water-crisis on the sidewalks of their neighborhood.
It’s this type of hands-on, creative engagement that has made the Thirst Project so popular among youth groups. The biggest, and perhaps craziest (as they admit), initiative they are currently working on is their commitment to bring water to the the entire nation of Swaziland by the year 2022. That’s 1.25 million people, a whole country! Their focus on Swaziland is spurred by the fact that it is among the world’s most HIV-affected countries with infection rates at approximately 26% for people aged 15 – 19, and 19% for those aged 2 and older. The majority of those infected have no choice but to drink dirty water from contaminated sources, so even if they have access to medical treatment or antiretroviral medication for AIDS, the diseases in the water actually kill them faster than AIDS. It will take $50 million and a whole lot of determination to complete this effort since it kicked off in 2012, but they are already well on their way thanks to a wide network of supporters from the education community and individuals like you.
Everyone needs water to live and access to clean water is the most basic of human rights. Ensuring that everyone is given that right should be a global priority and the Thirst Project is making sure that the emerging generation has the knowledge, motivation and tools to succeed. To find out more about them, click here!