Amanda Martinez

April 11, 2016

ENGL 219-022

Providing Clean Drinking Water

Research Question: In what ways can we provide clean drinking water for third world
countries?
There are various projects going on worldwide to provide clean water for third world
countries. The Water Project provides access to safe and reliable water building water wells,
small dams, spring protections and other water sources (TheWaterProject.org). The issue is being
taken care of and the progress is great. Engineers have created systems that will provide the
proper hygiene these countries need. Being that these water systems are already being provided,
MEs are working on improving systems to provide a constant flow of filtered water from the
natural springs, lake, rivers, etc. that these countries already have.
Current Situation
Water is a fundamental human need. There are some countries that arent as fortunate as
others. The water they are being provided is not filtered and contains diseases. Every person
deserves to have clean drinking water. The body needs it to survive so when consumed without
filtration you get sick and it may led to death. Death rates in third world countries are mostly
cause by the bacteria in the water they have for drinking, bathing and cooking. Each person on
Earth requires at least 20 to 50 liters of clean, safe water a day for drinking, cooking, and
simply keeping themselves clean. Polluted water isnt just dirty, its deadly. Some 1.8 million
people die every year of diarrheal diseases like cholera. Tens of millions of others are seriously
sickened by a host of water-related ailments many of which are easily preventable. The United
Nations considers universal access to clean water a basic human right, and an essential step
towards improving living standards worldwide. Water-poor communities are typically
economically poor as well, their residents trapped in an ongoing cycle of poverty (koshland).
Education suffers when sick children miss school. Economic opportunities are routinely lost to
the impacts of rampant illness and the time-consuming processes of acquiring water where it is
not readily available. Children and women bear the brunt of these burdens. Water is obviously
essential for hydration and for food production, but sanitation is an equally important and
complementary use of water. A lack of proper sanitation services not only breeds disease, it can
rob people of their basic human dignity (koshland).

Amanda Martinez
April 11, 2016
ENGL 219-022
The future is bright for diminishing the disease being contracted from water and for
simply providing clean water for the people of third world countries. Although there are dams,
spring protectors and water wells they are still being upgraded by engineers so they will be able
to last a lifetime. Water has to be provided, instead of through natural processes so MEs are
working on providing the same water systems already in place but attaching them to springs,
rivers and lakes that are already there. In doing this it helps solve the problem of constantly
having to renew the water and the water systems. This would just be a constant flow of water,
saving money and lives. Some areas are without this but for those the water systems already in
place will stay in place. With more effort, every country that cannot get clean water will have it.
The solution I propose would be to implement as many constant flow water systems as possible.
With the help of engineers, volunteers and donations will help greatly in providing clean water
to third world countries. Disease rates will drop and they will gain the basic human right to
clean water.

Step One: Community Involvement and Money

Raising awareness of the community on water and sanitation issues is vital to success.
For the costs of these projects we need everyone to be aware and donate. There are many
sites for donating to specific projects in specific areas around the world. The water
supply schemes under the project have been established under innovative enterprises
which have the capacity for proper management and operation. The community also have
a 10 percent stake in these companies which ensures a strong sense of community
ownership and commitment, as well as deep community involvement in the planning,
construction, operation and maintenance of the schemes. Involvement even extends to
community members supervising construction contracts. This practice has ensured that
the needs of the community and the quality of services required are met in a transparent
and participatory way (WorldBank).
Without the proper funds this could not be completed. Wed first have to raise awareness
and get enough people involved so we have sufficient funds. Advertisements on tv,
magazine, post cards, on Facebook, on search engines, etc. have been trying to raise

Amanda Martinez
April 11, 2016
ENGL 219-022
awareness for this issue and recruit volunteers. There are many campaigns, such the water
project, on the internet and televisions that take donations for such projects.
Step Two: Volunteers
Most of the projects revolves around volunteers due to the fact that this is a global issue.
The volunteers would go to the country in need and work with the tactics being created
by engineers to get the clean water system running. Getting volunteers for this cause hs
its own commercials. People are very into television today so doing this would reach a
huge percentage of the world. Also, there are post cards send out to peoples inboxes
asking for a small amount of money to help support the cause. This also reaches a huge
percentage of people. If you ever go to a grocery store, the mall, etc. they sometimes
participate in these types of foundations and ask if would like to donated a dollar or two
to the cause. This helps the cause tremendously with the cost and it also alerts numerous
people, which is where volunteering comes to peoples minds and they contact
organizations and join in to help the cause.
Step Three: Use the water system set-ups to gather information
So far, the numbers for countries being helped, people getting clean water, and projects
being funded are increasing. The water systems are constantly being upgraded and
continue to help other people and countries throughout the world. All feedback comes
from if the people are getting the sanitation they need. If the water is coming out clean
then we have reached our goal and saving millions of lives. To accomplish this goal there
would have to be regular check-ups on the water systems and how they are benefiting the
areas. Then we can collect the population of the area and the amount of areas being
helped. Then we will have collected the amount of people and areas benefitting by the
water systems and that in itself will show how efficient these systems are.
Cost and Benefits
This issue is worldwide. This means this project will take billions of dollars. Its also an
issue that would have to be kept up to date. We would constantly have to provide clean water. In
all, 2.4 billion people worldwide lack clean water, which is about 40 percent of the worlds
population. To provide clean water for all would, roughly, cost $10 billion per year or more
(Price of Safe Water).

Amanda Martinez
April 11, 2016
ENGL 219-022
Qualified engineers, such as Maya Halevy, have created a engineering project page that gives
updates on old and new global/national projects/issues ("Contact - ENGINEER Project."
ENGINEER Project Contact Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2016. <http://www.engineerproject.eu/contact/index.html>. ). This is the place I initially got all three of my field issues from.
It is written by various engineers who are assigned to specific projects.
I also used sites that are actual project plans for certain areas such as The Providing
Water for Africa page. It tells what they do, how many areas have been helped, how many
people have been helped, etc.
There is also a page that gives information about how much it costs to do the project
every year. It is also written by the people assigned to this project.
There is an international issues that is in dire need of care, providing clean drinking
water. The water third world countries are getting is water that causes disease and kills a huge
number of people. Our mission is to provide water wells, small dams and other water systems,
varying on the size of the area, to diminish the negative aspects of that water. These systems are
being put in many areas and there has been huge progress. The money is being provided by
donations and volunteers are putting the systems in place. Millions of people have been helped
and thousands of areas have the system in place. The future is bright. Systems are constantly
being upgraded by engineers. Hopefully this problem will be no more soon.
Thank you everyone, for your time and attention!

Works Cited
"Price of Safe Water for All: $10 Billion and the Will to Provide It." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 2000. Web. 09 Apr. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/23/world/priceof-safe-water-for-all-10-billion-and-the-will-to-provide-it.html>.

"Provide

Access

to

Clean

Water."

Grand

Challenges

-.

Amanda Martinez
April 11, 2016
ENGL 219-022
Web. 09 Apr. 2016.

<http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9142.aspx>.

"Water,

Sanitation

&

Hygiene."

Samaritans

Purse.

Web.

09

Apr.

2016.

<http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/water/>.
"Safe Drinking Water Is Essential: Why Is Safe Water Essential?" Safe Drinking Water Is
Essential.

N.p.,

n.d.

Web.

02

May

2016.

<https://www.koshland-science-

museum.org/water/html/en/Overview/Why-is-Safe-Water-Essential.html>.
"Providing Clean Water for 1.3 Million Rural Residents in Vietnam." World Bank. N.p., n.d.
Web. 02 May 2016. <http://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2014/04/10/providing-clean-waterfor-13-million-rural0-residents-in-vietnam>.
"The Water Project - Safe and Reliable Water Matters." The Water Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 02
May 2016. <https://thewaterproject.org/>.