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Why Does Africa Not Have Access to Clean Water?

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Sub-Saharan Africa has a severe water crisis. So, it’s fair to ask, “Why does Africa not have access to clean water?” The Global Citizen reports that there are four major factors at play: Access to water supply and sanitation Sanitation gap Emergencies and disasters Water resources [1] They report that open defecation is the prime result of not having access to a water supply and sanitation. This relates to the sanitation gap, where the infrastructure needed has not caught up to the population growth. A cycle of floods and drought in Africa causes both water scarcity and contamination in an area where sources of water are already fewer than in some places. [2] All of these issues account for Africa’s ongoing water crisis. Solutions are needed that can address these four critical areas in sustainable ways that benefit the local community. GFA World has decades of experience examining and solving for water issues. They serve some of the poorest regions in the world, including Africa. GFA...
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How Are Clean Water and Sanitation Related?

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Clean water and sanitation are related because at least two billion people worldwide use water contaminated by feces. [1] In the poorest regions of the world, there is no proper running water infrastructure separated from sanitation systems. The only water source available to them might be a pond or river, and if there is not a sanitation system in place to collect and properly dispose of feces, then it’s often inevitable that the two will mix. According to the Brookings Institution, “Most of the world’s poorest live in rural areas. Roughly two out of three people living in extreme poverty live in rural settings. In total, some 400 million rural men and women live in extreme poverty, more than the populations of the United States and Canada combined. At the same time, roughly half that amount (approximately 200 million) live in cities.” [2] In rural settings, you also have livestock and other animals that are not contained or monitored for their defecation. This adds to the problem of...
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How Many People Don’t Have Access to Clean Water?

To understand how many people don’t have access to clean water, you first have to understand the water available to the entire globe. Though the earth is covered in water, you cannot drink ocean water without desalinating it, which means removing the salt. There is not yet an efficient way to do this. Most of the remaining fresh water is trapped in the ice caps, and the rest is not evenly distributed or accessible worldwide. [1] The World Health Organization reports the following staggering facts about the global water crisis: Over 2 billion people live in water-stressed countries, which is expected to get worse. At least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with feces. Chemical risks in drinking water include arsenic, fluoride or nitrate, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and microplastics. Safe and sufficient water facilitates the practice of hygiene, which prevents not only digestive diseases, as well as acute respiratory i...
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Clean Water Is for Everyone

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We’ve all done it. We turn on the tap and let the cool, clean water flow for a few seconds, waiting for the temperature to change or to grab the container we are using. For just those few moments, we often waste one of our planet’s most precious resources: clean water. Despite being a fundamental part of our daily lives, access to clean water is a luxury that many people do not have. In school, we are taught about the water cycle, a planetary phenomenon that is often shown as a simple illustration of the rain, runoff, groundwater, evaporation, oceans and clouds, bringing us back to rain. [1] Although clean water is a basic necessity for all, it is not equally accessible worldwide. In some regions, the water cycle is further disrupted by improper sanitation systems that contaminate ground water, flooding that mixes clean and dirty water, and prolonged periods of drought. It doesn’t show how many people don’t have access to clean water . Only 2.5 percent of the world’s water is fresh and...
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How Much to Drill a Well?

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Well drilling provides clean and accessible water for an entire community. But the question is: how much to drill a well? Costs vary, depending on size, depth, casing and region. Most homeowners in the United States spend from $3,750 to $15,300 for a well with an average depth of 150 feet. For a 400-foot deep well, costs range from $14,200 to $33,600, depending on diameter (4” to 8”, respectively). [1] Costs like those value global water well drilling services at $2.83 million in 2019. By 2027, drilling services are expected to rise to $3.9 million. [2] In Thailand, the government estimates that it costs about 1 million baht, or $29,883 US dollars, for groundwater wells that include storage tanks and distribution systems. However, this amount only covers wells that range from 100 to 120 meters deep; many wells need to be dug much deeper. [3] At GFA World, we dig Jesus Wells up to 200 meters to make sure water is accessible year-round, even during droughts. Some organizations require $1...
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Provide Access to Clean Water

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When organizations like GFA World provide access to clean water, it literally saves lives. Nearly 10% of diseases worldwide could be prevented with improved water supplies, sanitation and hygiene. [1] In real numbers, that would save millions of lives annually, including: 1.4 million preventable child deaths from diarrhea 860,000 preventable child deaths from malnutrition, 31,000 deaths from dengue, Japanese encephalitis and onchocerciasis. 280,000 deaths from drowning—72% of drownings could be avoided by improving the safety of water bodies through information, education and regulations. [2] In addition, every year, organizations that provide access to clean water and water management systems could prevent needless suffering, including: 2 billion intestinal nematode infections. 25 million people from suffering from serious incapacitation due to lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic disease that damages the lymph system and weakens the immune system. 5 million visual impairments from trach...
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Water Well Drilling

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The demand for clean, safe water calls for well drilling. Many companies are involved in water well drilling to make a profit, but nonprofits like GFA World drill deep, efficient wells and provide free water for those most in need. Water well drilling saves millions of lives. When organizations provide access to clean water , it prevents people from suffering from intestinal parasites or waterborne diseases like cholera, dysentery and other diarrhea-causing illnesses, which can lead to malnutrition, blindness and even death. Through deep well drilling, GFA offers Jesus Wells free of charge to the poorest communities. Before GFA intervened and built a Jesus Well, malaria, typhoid, and other waterborne diseases were a fact of life for Mai and the other children in her community. Open wells, ponds and rivers were the only source of water their families had. But the water was contaminated with cow dung, rotting leaves and trash, and during summer droughts, the water supplies dried up. Past...
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