The Impact of Water Scarcity

Those of us that have access to on-demand clean water, rarely think about what it would be like to have to fetch potable water yourself. Nor do we fear the means by which we transport it. Consider what it would be like to transport water for your daily drinking, rinsing and bathing needs from your nearest fresh water source. This is daily life for citizens of rural Kenya, where women and children may spend up to one-third of their day finding and returning fresh water¹. In the video below you'll find a village where the women spend eleven hours to find water. Not only do the African temperatures create a heat exhaustion problem, but predators and waterborne illnesses add to this treacherous daily chore.

The economic position of Kenya make proper plumbing and piping a financial improbability and the geography of the region further increases the difficulty. Rivers and lakes in the country are not equally spread among the region. These naturally occurring fresh water sources are primarily centered near the nation's borders, leaving large pockets without water in the central and northern regions.

Until Kenya is able to seek financial stability, it is up to global relief organizations,such as water.org and the water project, as well as volunteers from any region, to provide accessibility solutions. Often, the containers used for water transport tend to have other primary uses so even if the water fetched were to be pathogen and parasite free, lingering particles in the containers can taint the supply.

The time, energy, and health investment for water retrieval that is not even truly clean is too high of a toll for many of the worlds's citizens.

Sources:
1: https://thewaterproject.org/water-crisis/water-in-crisis-kenya