When someone is feeling thirsty, we usually turn to good ol’ H2O.  What if it wasn’t as easy as turning on your faucet? What if your job was to travel miles to gather water for your community?  Water is one of the basic needs that most of us take for granted.  Too many people in developing countries are dying from lack of clean drinking water.  I know I missed World Water Day on March 22, but it is still important to understand that this is a serious issue. Here are some Water facts from Water.org:

• 3.575 Million people die each year from a water related disease… That is equal to the entire city of Los Angeles.
• Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness.
• 884 Million people lack access to clean water… That’s almost 3x the United States Population.
• 3.575 Million people die each year from water-related disease.
• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
• People living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city.
• An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.
• Women spend 200 million hours a day collecting water.

Water.org was founded by Matt Damon and Gary White to help communities in Africa, South Asia and Central America by providing access to safe water and sanitation.  Visit Water.org to find ways that you can help or follow them on Twitter!