You already know that skylark  & king is dedicated to ending the water crisis.  You know that with each purchase of our clothing that you make, you help improve the lives of people suffering because of the water crisis.  

But you may be wondering,  "Exactly what is the water crisis?  How many people live without clean water? How does this effect their health, their lives, and the prosperity of their community?"

Read ahead and we'll do our best to answer all of your questions.

  

How many people are effected by the water crisis?

More than 1 billion people worldwide live without clean drinking water.  On top of that, another 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation; for many of them this means living in or in close proximity to their own excrement.  

The good news is that this crisis is NOT “…about absolute shortages of physical [water] supply,” (i).  Instead it is a crisis of poverty and inequality, for which, with adequate resources, a solution is attainable. 

Together we can make a difference.

The Facts of the Water Crisis

The water crisis is devastating to human health...

3.575 million people die every year from water related diseases (ii). That’s more than die from violence—including wars—each year. That’s nearly 3 times the yearly death toll from AIDS.

 

The water crisis is especially devastating to children...

 

Children, with their developing immune systems, are at greater risk to waterborn micro-organisms such as E. Coli, Vibrio Cholerae, and the Hepitus A virus (iii).

 

1.5 million children die from water related diseases every year (iv). That is a rate of 1 kindergarten class of 30 children every 10 minutes.

 

Diarrhea is the 2nd leading cause of death in children under 5 years old. It kills more than AIDS, Malaria, and Measles combined (iv).

 

When waterborne illness doesn’t kill, it prevents a child from obtaining a proper education. 443 Million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness (i).

 

The water crisis reinforces gender roles and subjugates women...

 

 

Many women in developing countries spend 4 or more hours every day collecting and carrying water. This absence provides an excuse to exclude women from the community’s economic and governmental life (i).

 

Women of sub-Saharan Africa spend 40 billion hours collecting and carrying water each year (i). This is 40 billion hours that they could have spent raising their families, working, or recreating. That’s equivalent to the total number of hours worked each year in the entire French economy.

On these long and strenuous walks carrying water, women are often in remote locations alone and often before dawn or after dark, leaving them at greater risk for sexual assault and other violence.

 

 

 

The water crisis stifles economic development...

2/3 of people without access to clean drinking water survive on less than $2 per day. The water crisis devastates the poor and prevents them from building an economic future (vi).

$1=$3 to $34. Clean drinking water and sanitation leads to economic development. The World Health Organization estimated for each $1 invested in clean drinking water and sanitation in the developing world there is a $3 to $34 return in economic development, depending on the region (vii).