The United Nations estimates that 650 million people worldwide currently have no access to safe water, placing them at risk of infectious diseases and premature death. Reuters reports that the UN further estimates that “waterborne diseases are responsible for the deaths of 900 children under the age of five every day.” World Water Day will be observed on March 22, calling attention to the global struggle to access clean water, and the work being done to alleviate the problems.
The Daily Struggle for Clean Water
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An employee at a boat station drills a hole in the frozen surface of the Yenisei River to draw fresh water for cooking and drinking, outside Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia, on March 2, 2016. #
Ilya Naymushin / Reuters -
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Visitors scoop water using traditional ladles at a natural spring water spot known as the “divine water” at Daikyoji Temple, also called Shibamata Taishakuten, in Tokyo, Japan, on March 6, 2016. Local residents drink the water or rinse their mouths, and wash their hands to purify themselves, and wish for good fortune. #
Issei Kato / Reuters -
Ram Kumar Khadka, 36, climbs out of a well after cleaning it in Kathmandu, Nepal, on February 22, 2016. Khadka has worked as a cleaner for 12 years and earns around $18 a day. #
Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters -
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A woman and her granddaughter walk next to a rainwater tank that collects water used for washing and cleaning in San Miguel Xicalco, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico, on March 4, 2016. #
Henry Romero / Reuters -
A Palestinian man pulls his donkey loaded with empty bottles and a jerrycan, as he makes his way to fill them with drinking water, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 1, 2016. #
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