GIN: Personal water consumption

After Mr. Lavender’s presentation, I asked everyone to think about their water consumptions. Everyday, we use water to clean, drink, and cook for various reasons. During the week, I reflected on how much water I “wasted,” and I realized that I need to save water by not using it when I don’t have to. I planned to use less water when I’m taking a shower by turning the water off when I don’t need it. David and Shea made a presentation about water, and it was shocking to know that as little as $20 can save a person’s life forever. Water is essential for every living thing, and it is so unfortunate that not everyone has access to it. Some water facts include:

1. More than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes. Nearly all deaths, 99 percent, occur in the developing world.
2. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Of the 60 million people added to the world's towns and cities every year, most move to informal settlements (i.e. slums) with no sanitation facilities. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. 780 million people lack access to an improved water source; approximately one in nine people. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. "[The water and sanitation] crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Over 2.5X more people lack water than live in the United States. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. More people have a mobile phone than a toilet.2,4,5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------