Water supply problems in LICs

Water key terms

Water borne diseases• At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by

patients suffering from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

• The majority of the illness in the world is caused by fecal matter• 88% of cases of diarrhea worldwide are attributable to unsafe

water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene. • 90% of all deaths caused by diarrheal diseases are children under 5

years of age, mostly in developing countries. • It is estimated that improved sanitation facilities could reduce

diarrhea-related deaths in young children by more than one-third. If hygiene promotion is added, such as teaching proper hand washing, deaths could be reduced by two thirds. It would also help accelerate economic and social development in countries where sanitation is a major cause of lost work and school days because of illness.

Homework:

Complete research on one of the following diseases: Bilharzia, Cholera, or Typhoid, guinea worm, trachoma

Your research should cover:• How poor water supply causes it• Parts of the world that it is particularly

prevalent• What impact the disease has

Water pollution: Case study the Achuar people in the Amazon

Who are the Achuar people? Where do they live?Why is their water being polluted?What impact does the pollution have?

The Achuar Tribe, Peru

It is a familiar story. Big business moves into a pristine wilderness and starts destroying the environment and by turn the livelihoods of the indigenous people who live there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-achuar-tribe-of-the-amazon/7465.html

Location

Oil Company Occidental Petroleum located in the Oriente region of Ecuador.

When oil was discovered in the Amazon in 1964 oil companies began to move in at hasty rates in order to gain claims on land for development and profit.

Pollution is contaminating the larger ecosystem and sending toxins downstream to Peru.

Effects

Effects cont….

• Due to the development of the Amazon Rainforest the Achuar people’s numbers and livelihood has been declining.

• As a result they have been pushed off a portion of their land• Oil spills that take place in the Achuar territory are seldom

cleaned up and if they are the oil is improperly buried below the ground.

• Major oil pipelines run above rivers that the Achuar depend on for bathing and water.

• When these oil pipelines break., which occurs often, the water pollutes the Achuar waters and they are left with no safe alternatives to drinking water

Self assessment