-Water-

Blue Gold

If life is to exist, water is necessary. Every single creature on this planet needs water to live. A human being can survive for several weeks without food but just days without water. We are completely dependant on this life giving resource. The human body is made up of about 65% water but could be as little as 55% to as much as 78% depending on body size. Experts say we need between one and a half to three liters a day to keep hydration at healthy levels. Of course, this amount varies depending on environmental temperatures and humidity and the physical exertion of the person. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to this priceless necessity.[1]

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The Quest For Safe Water

97.5% of water on the Earth is salt water, leaving only 2.5% as fresh water of which over two thirds is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen fresh water is mainly found as groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground or in the air. In the US, the typical single family home consumes 69.3 gallons of water per day.[2] In Africa, with more than 700 million people, only forty-six percent of people have access safe drinking water. The more populous Asia Pacific region with over three billion people, eighty percent of whom with access to drinking water, still leaves over 600 million people without access to safe drinking water.[3]

Lack of safe water is a major cause of death in less developed countries. In 2000-2003, 769,000 children under five years old in sub-Saharan Africa died each year from diarrhoeal diseases. As a result of only thirty-six percent of the population in the sub-Saharan region having access to proper means of sanitation, more than 2000 children's lives are lost every day. In south Asia, 683,000 children under five years old died each year from diarrhoeal disease from 2000-2003. During the same time period, in developed countries, 700 children under five years old died from diarrhoeal disease. Improved water supply reduces diarrhea morbidity by twenty-five percent and improvements in drinking water through proper storage in the home and chlorination reduce diarrhea episodes by thirty-nine percent.[4]

One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the UN includes environmental sustainability. In 2004, only forty-two percent of people in rural areas had access to clean water. Sixty-three percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa lacked access to basic sanitation facilities (hardly down from the sixty-eight percent in 1990). The effects of climate change add more distress to sub-Saharan Africa. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that 75-250 million people will have to cope with additional limitations to water access. The results could be terrible for the livelihoods of the disadvantaged and rural economies. Currently the UN is not on schedule with their plans and estimates that their intended goal will not be reached by 2015.[5]

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Water Privatization

In recent years we have seen the increase of water privatization. Though 90% of all water and sanitation systems are publicly owned and operated, the trend of water privatization still poses a serious threat. Several monopolistic corporations have plans to buy water rights, privatize publicly owned water systems, promote bottled water, and sell "bulk" water by transporting it from water rich areas to markets desperate for more water.[6]

Companies such as Suez, RWE and Vivendi rank as the heavyweights in the water privatization arena. RWE and Suez alone hold nearly 40% of the existing water market share closely fallowed by Vivendi. Suez operates in 130 countries and Vivendi in over 100; their combined annual revenues are over $70 billion (including $19 billion in water and wastewater services). RWE revenues are currently over $50 billion (energy included), having acquired British water giant Thames Water. After purchasing American Water Works, RWE gained control of the largest U.S. private water utility. This expanded its customer base from 43 million to 56 million people. In Europe and North America, analysts predict that within the next 15 years these companies will control 65% to 75% of what are now public waterworks. These companies have worked closely with the World Bank and other international financial institutions to gain a foothold on every continent. They aggressively lobby for legislation and trade laws to force cities to privatize their water and set the agenda for debate on solutions to the world’s increasing water scarcity.[7]

The fallowing article was published on Saturday, July 15, 2000 in the Minneapolis Star- Tribune and was written by Jim Shultz. In this article Shultz discusses the impact of water privatization in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

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Water Wars

More than 50 countries on 5 continents are poised on the edge of disputes, civil disturbances, and even war. UN figures suggest there are around 300 potential conflicts over water around the world, arising from squabbles over river borders and the drawing of water from shared lakes and aquifers.[8] The effects are privatized water are only adding to the already volatile situation.

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Polluted Water

Water pollution is alarmingly prevalent and is an insidious killer. Causing more than 14,000 deaths every day, it is said to be the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases.[9] Though water can become polluted via natural occurrences (volcanoes, earthquakes, algae blooms, etc.) water is often contaminated by wastewater treatment plants, outfall from factories, leaking underground tanks, agricultural practices, oil spills, etc.[10]

A recent study reveals the presence of a variety of pharmaceuticals in the public water supply of at least 41 million Americans. Seizure medications, antibiotics, mood stabilizers, steroids and other hormones are just some of the many medications found in public water supplies across all 50 states. Another study by a new Environmental Working Group on USA tap water contamination claims that over 10 million people in 374 communities across 12 states are exposed to at least one weed killer in their tap water. One pesticide, atrazine, was found in 96 percent of all surface water systems tested by the pesticide industry itself. Analyst Brian Cohen, an author of the study said “We found that over 100 communities drink tap water contaminated by five or more pesticides.” Another author, vice president for research Richard Wiles said “We estimate that at least 57,000 infants in the Midwest drink infant formula each year that is contaminated with atrazine and other cancer causing weed killers, it’s time to say enough is enough.”[11]

These are just some of the many studies that have found alarming amounts of contaminates in our public water supplies. Unfortunately, many people believe that by purchasing and drinking bottled water they are saving themselves form ingesting all the poisons that plague our water supply. Numerous studies have shown that this is a very grave mistake.

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The Truth About Bottled Water

Companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo spend ridiculous amounts of money advertising their bottled water products. In 1999 alone, $31.9 million was spent on advertising. These advertisements try to foster the idea that the liquid contained in that bottle is from some pristine fountain high up on some fantastic glacier and is of an unparalleled purity. In reality, the liquid within that little plastic bottle is as bad as regular tap water, and in some cases, is even worse. The FDA has stated, "Companies that market bottled water as being safer than tap water are defrauding the American public."

In March of 1999 the NRDC submitted a petition to the FDA along with a four year study on bottled water industry entitled Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype?. The four year study contained numerous disturbing discoveries, here are just a few quoted directly from the report from the section entitled Major Regulatory Gaps:

• FDA's rules completely exempt 60-70 percent of the bottled water sold in the United States from the agency's bottled water standards, because FDA says its rules do not apply to water packaged and sold within the same state. Nearly 40 states say they do regulate such waters (generally with few or no resources dedicated to policing this); therefore, about one out of five states do not.
• FDA also exempts "carbonated water," "seltzer," and many other waters sold in bottles from its bottled water standards, applying only vague general sanitation rules that set no specific contamination limits. Fewer than half of the states require these waters to meet bottled water standards.
• Even when bottled waters are covered by FDA's specific bottled water standards, those rules are weaker in many ways than EPA rules that apply to big city tap water. For instance, comparing those EPA regulations (for water systems which serve the majority of the U.S. population) with FDA's bottled water rules:
• City tap water can have no confirmed E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria (bacteria that are indications of possible contamination by fecal matter). FDA bottled water rules include no such prohibition (a certain amount of any type of coliform bacteria is allowed in bottled water).
• City tap water from surface water must be filtered and disinfected (or the water system must adopt well-defined protective measures for the source water it uses, such as control of potentially polluting activities that may affect the stream involved). In contrast, there are no federal filtration or disinfection requirements for bottled water -- the only source-water protection, filtration, or disinfection provisions for bottled water are completely delegated to state discretion, and many states have adopted no such meaningful programs.
• Bottled water plants must test for coliform bacteria just once a week; big-city tap water must be tested 100 or more times a month.
• Repeated high levels of bacteria (i.e., "heterotrophic-plate-count" bacteria) in tap water combined with a lack of disinefectant can trigger a violation for cities -- but not for water bottlers.
• Most cities using surface water have had to test for Cryptosporidium or Giardia, two common water pathogens that can cause diarrhea and other intestinal problems (or more serious problems in vulnerable people), yet bottled water companies don't have to do this.
• City tap water must meet standards for certain important toxic or cancer-causing chemicals such as phthalate (a chemical that can leach from plastic, including plastic bottles); some in the industry persuaded FDA to exempt bottled water from regulations regarding these chemicals.
• Any violation of tap-water standards is grounds for enforcement -- but bottled water in violation of standards can still be sold if it is labeled as "containing excessive chemicals" or "excessive bacteria" (unless FDA finds it "adulterated," a term not specifically defined).
• Cities generally must test at least once a quarter for many chemical contaminants. Water bottlers generally must test only annually.
• Cities must have their water tested by government-certified labs; such certified testing is not required for bottlers.
• Tap water test results and notices of violations must be reported to state or federal officials. There is no mandatory reporting for water bottlers.
• City water system operators must be certified and trained to ensure that they know how to safely treat and deliver water -- not so for bottlers.
• City water systems must issue annual "right-to-know" reports telling consumers what is in their water; as detailed in this report, bottlers successfully killed such a requirement for bottled water.
• FDA and state bottled water programs are seriously underfunded. FDA says bottled water is a low priority; the agency estimates it has the equivalent of fewer than one staff person dedicated to developing and issuing bottled water rules, and the equivalent of fewer than one FDA staffer assuring compliance with the bottled water rules on the books. Although a small number of states (such as California) have real bottled water programs, our 1998 survey found that 43 states have fewer than one staff person dedicated to bottled water regulation. By comparison, hundreds of federal staff and many more state personnel are dedicated to tap water regulation. Directing disproportionate resources to tap water protection is warranted. At the same time, over half the U.S. public (including many immunocompromised people) uses bottled water, and many millions of people use bottled water as their chief or exclusive drinking water source.
• FDA's regulations are less stringent than some international standards. For example, unlike FDA's rules, the European Union's (EU's) bottled natural mineral water standards regulate total bacteria count, and explicitly ban all parasites and pathogenic microorganisms, E. coli or other coliform bacteria, fecal streptococci (e.g., Streptococcus faecalis, recently renamed Enterococcus faecalis), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and sporulated sulphite-reducing anaerobic bacteria. Moreover, unlike the weaker FDA rules, the EU rules require natural mineral bottled water's labels to state the composition of the water and the specific water source, and mandate that only one water label may be used per source of water. Similarly, recent EU standards applicable to all bottled water also are far stricter than FDA standards. FDA's standards for certain chemicals (such as arsenic) also are weaker than certain World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

It’s no surprise, that with these lax regulations, they discovered contaminates such as arsenic and nitrates in bottled water samples. Here are some of their findings as quoted directly from the report in the section entitled Bottled Water: As Pure as We Are Led to Believe?:

• Our "snapshot" testing of more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of water by three independent labs found that most bottled water tested was of good quality, but some brands' quality was spotty. About one third of the bottled waters we tested contained significant contamination (i.e., levels of chemical or bacterial contaminants exceeding those allowed under a state or industry standard or guideline) in at least one test. This is the most comprehensive independent testing of bottled water in the United States that is publicly available. Moreover, NRDC contracted with an independent data verification firm to confirm the accuracy of our positive test results. Still, the testing was limited. The labs tested most waters for about half of the drinking water contaminants regulated by FDA (to control costs). They found:
• Nearly one in four of the waters tested (23 of the 103 waters, or 22 percent) violated strict applicable state (California) limits for bottled water in at least one sample, most commonly for arsenic or certain cancer-causing man-made ("synthetic") organic compounds. Another three waters sold outside of California (3 percent of the national total) violated industry-recommended standards for synthetic organic compounds in at least one sample, but unlike in California, those industry standards were not enforceable in the states (Florida and Texas) in which they were sold.
• Nearly one in five tested waters (18 of the 103, or 17 percent) contained, in at least one sample, more bacteria than allowed under microbiological-purity "guidelines" (unenforceable sanitation guidelines based on heterotrophic plate count [HPC] bacteria levels in the water) adopted by some states, the industry, and the EU. The U.S. bottled water industry uses HPC guidelines, and there are European HPC standards applicable overseas to certain bottled waters, but there are no U.S. standards in light of strong bottler opposition to making such limits legally binding.
• In sum, approximately one third of the tested waters (34 of 103 waters, or 33 percent) violated an enforceable state standard or exceeded microbiological-purity guidelines, or both, in at least one sample. We were unable to test for many microbial contaminants, such as Cryptosporidium, because the logistics and cost of testing for them post-bottling were beyond our means.
• Four waters (4 percent) violated the generally weak federal bottled water standards (two for excessive fluoride and two for excessive coliform bacteria; neither of the two latter waters were found to be contaminated with coliform bacteria in our testing of a different lot of the same brand).
• About one fifth of the waters contained synthetic organic chemicals -- such as industrial chemicals (e.g., toluene or xylene) or chemicals used in manufacturing plastic (e.g., phthalate, adipate, or styrene) -- in at least one sample, but generally at levels below state and federal standards. One sample contained phthalate -- a carcinogen that leaches from plastic -- at a level twice the tap water standard, but there is no bottled water standard for this chemical; two other samples from different batches of this same water contained no detectable phthalate.
• In addition, many waters contained arsenic, nitrates, or other inorganic contaminants at levels below current standards. While in most cases the levels found were not surprising, in eight cases arsenic was found in at least one test at a level of potential health concern.
• For purposes of comparison, we note that EPA recently reported that in 1996 about 1 in 10 community tap water systems (serving about one seventh of the U.S. population) violated EPA's tap water treatment or contaminant standards, and 28 percent of tap water systems violated significant water-monitoring or reporting requirements. In addition, the tap water of more than 32 million Americans (and perhaps more) exceeds 2 parts per billion (ppb) arsenic (the California Proposition 65 warning level, applicable to bottled water, is 5 ppb); and 80 to 100 million Americans drink tap water that contains very significant trihalomethane levels (over 40 ppb). Thus, while much tap water is supplied by systems that have violated EPA standards or that serve water containing substantial levels of risky contaminants, apparently the majority of the country's tap water passes EPA standards. Therefore, while much tap water is indeed risky, having compared available data we conclude that there is no assurance that bottled water is any safer than tap water.

It is clear, judging from the findings of the extensive report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, bottled water is just has hazardous to health and wellbeing as tap water. But bottled water is not only unsafe for human consumption; it’s also extremely destructive to the environment.

In the United States, 60 million water bottles are thrown away each and every day and only 14 percent of those bottles are recycled. Not only do we throw away 38 billion water bottles a year, but we also have to manufacture, fill and transport those bottles. The Pacific Institute estimates that producing the bottles for American consumption in 2006 required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil. That’s enough oil to fuel 1.1 million cars for one year. In 2006, bottling water created more than 2.5 million tons of CO2. The average energy cost to produce the plastic, fill the bottle, transport it to market and then deal with the waste is equivalent to filling up a quarter of every bottle with oil.

And to think, for the sake of convince, we spend 100 billion dollars every year on bottled water and severely damage our environment in the processes. Because of our current environmental situation, to habitually purchase bottled water is unethical and just downright irresponsible.

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Water Purification

Water purification is the process of removing contaminants and other harmful microorganisms from a raw water source. The goal is to produce water for a specific purpose with a treatment profile designed to limit the inclusion of specific materials; most water is purified for human consumption (drinking water). Water purification may also be designed for a variety of other purposes, including to meet the requirements of medical, pharmacology, chemical and industrial applications.[12] Here are just a few of the many methods of purifying water.

• Desalination - Desalination refers to any of several processes that remove excess salt and other minerals from water. More generally, desalination may also refer to the removal of salts and minerals, as in soil desalination.[13]
• Increased water conservation and water use efficiency remain the most cost effective priority for supplying water. While comparing ocean water desalination to wastewater reclamation for drinking water shows desalination as the first option, using reclamation for irrigation and industrial use provides multiple benefits.
• Large-scale desalination typically uses large amounts of energy as well as specialized, expensive infrastructure, making it very costly compared to the use of fresh water from rivers or groundwater. The large energy reserves of many Middle Eastern countries, along with their relative water scarcity, have led to extensive construction of desalination in this region. By mid-2007, Middle Eastern desalination accounted for close to ¾ of total world capacity.[14]
• Distillation - Distillation is a long established process for water purification in which water is heated until it evaporates and the vapor condensed and collected. The equipment is relatively inexpensive but it is very energy intensive - typically it uses 1kW of electricity per liter of water produced. Depending on the design of the still, distilled water can have a resistivity of around 1 MΩ-cm and will be sterile when freshly produced if purpose built equipment is used, but will not remain so without very careful storage. Moreover, volatile impurities such as carbon dioxide, silica, ammonia and a variety of organic compounds will 'carry over' into the distillate.
• Distillation only produces purified water slowly. It is not an on-demand process. Due to this, a quantity of water must be distilled and stored for later use. This storage of the distillate can be problematic if the container in which the water is stored is not made of an inert material. Ions or plasticizers will leach out of the container and re-contaminate the water. In addition, bacteria grow very well in water that has been standing for some time.
• To maintain sterility, sterile storage bottles are used and the collected water autoclaved, but once the bottle is opened it is exposed to bacteria and contamination begins. In hard water areas stills require frequent acid cleaning, due to scale build-up, unless the feedwater is pre-treated by softening or reverse osmosis.[15]
• Reverse Osmosis - Mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse osmosis is theoretically the most thorough method of large scale water purification available, although perfect semi-permeable membranes are difficult to create. Unless membranes are well-maintained, algae and other life forms can colonize the membranes.[16]
• Granular Activated Carbon filtering (GAC) - a form of activated carbon with a high surface area, absorbs many compounds including many toxic compounds. Water passing through activated carbon is commonly used in municipal regions with organic contamination, taste or odors. Many household water filters and fish tanks use activated carbon filters to further purify the water. Household filters for drinking water sometimes contain silver to release silver ions which have an anti-bacterial effect.[17]
• Chlorination - The most common disinfection method is some form of chlorine or its compounds such as chloramine or chlorine dioxide. Chlorine is a strong oxidant that rapidly kills many harmful micro-organisms. Because chlorine is a toxic gas, there is a danger of a release associated with its use. This problem is avoided by the use of sodium hypochlorite, which is a relatively inexpensive solution that releases free chlorine when dissolved in water. Chlorine solutions can be generated on site by electrolyzing common salt solutions. A solid form, calcium hypochlorite releases chlorine on contact with water. Handling the solid, however, requires greater routine human contact through opening bags and pouring than the use of gas cylinders or bleach which are more easily automated. The generation of liquid sodium hypochlorite is both inexpensive and safer than the use of gas or solid chlorine. All forms of chlorine are widely used despite their respective drawbacks. One drawback is that chlorine from any source reacts with natural organic compounds in the water to form potentially harmful chemical by-products trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs), both of which are carcinogenic in large quantities and regulated by the United States Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA). The formation of THMs and haloacetic acids may be minimized by effective removal of as many organics from the water as possible prior to chlorine addition. Although chlorine is effective in killing bacteria, it has limited effectiveness against protozoans that form cysts in water (Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium, both of which are pathogenic).[18]
• Atmospheric Water Generators (AWG) - An AWG operates in a manner very similar to that of a refrigerated dehumidifier: air is passed through a cooled coil, causing water to condense. The amount of water that can be produced depends on the humidity, the volume of air passing through the coils, and the size of the machine.
• The device is very useful for locations where pure drinking water is difficult to obtain, such as in areas with heavy ground pollution, and the air is humid.[19]

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Just The Facts

• 1.1 billion People lack access to an improved water supply - approximately one in six people on earth.[20]
• 2.6 billion People in the world lack access to improved sanitation.[20]
• Less than 1% of the world's fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use.[21]
• A person can live weeks without food, but only days without water.[22]
• A person needs 4 to 5 gallons of water per day to survive.[22 - 24]
• The average American individual uses 100 to 176 gallons of water at home each day.[25 - 26]
• The average African family uses about 5 gallons of water each day.[26]
• Millions of women and children spend several hours a day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources.[20]
• Water systems fail at a rate of 50% or higher.[27 - 28]
• Every $1 spent on water and sanitation creates on average another $8 in costs averted and productivity gained.[20]
• Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water live on less $2 a day.[20]
• Poor people living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more for per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city.[20]
• Every 15 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease.[29]
• For children under age five, water-related diseases are the leading cause of death.[30]
• 88 percent of all diseases are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.[31]
• At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease.[20]
• 1.8 million Children die each year from diarrhea – 4,900 deaths each day.[20]
• No intervention has greater overall impact upon national development and public health than the provision of safe drinking water and the proper disposal of human waste.[32]
• Human health improvements are influenced not only by the use of clean water, but also by personal hygiene habits and the use of sanitation facilities.[33]
• Close to half of all people in developing countries are suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.[20]
• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.[20]

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Bibliography

• [1] Maton, Anthea bj; Jean Hopkins, Charles William McLaughlin, Susan Johnson, Maryanna Quon Warner, David LaHart, Jill D. Wright (1993). Human Biology and Health. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-981176-1.

• [2] March 2008, Cashing in on Climate Change, IBISWorld

• [3] www.africa-interactive.net

• [4] WHO/UNICEF, Water for life: making it happen

• [5] Africa and the Millennium Development Goals www.un.org/millenniumgoals/docs/MDGafrica07.pdf]

• [6] www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/general/

• [7] www.citizen.org/cmep/water/general/majorwater/

• [8] www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/water/2001/0320cflt.html

• [9] West, Larry (March 26, 2006). "World Water Day: A Billion People Worldwide Lack Safe Drinking Water"

• [10] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollution#cite_note-death-0

• [11] findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KWZ/is_8_5/ai_n7577474

• [12] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification

• [13] "Desalination" (definition), The American Heritage Science Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin Company, via dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-19

• [14] Fischetti, Mark (September 2007), "Fresh from the Sea", Scientific American (Scientific American, Inc.) 297(3): 118–119

• [15] www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=fresh-from-the-sea>. Retrieved on 3 August 2008

• [16] www.elgalabwater.com/?id=501

• [17] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification

• [18] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification

• [19] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification

• [20] 2006 United Nations Human Development Report

• [21] World Health Organization Fact Sheet "Health in Water Resources Development"

• [22] UC Davis Health System. "Scripts." January 2001

• [23] The Sphere Project Handbook "Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response."

• [24] Les Roberts "Diminishing standards: How much water do people need?" [in Forum: Water and War, International Committee of the Red Cross (1998)].

• [25] U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet "Water Q&A: Water Use at Home."

• [26] World Resources Institute, 1998-99 and 1996-97. "A Guide to the Global Environment."

• [27] The World Bank, 2000. Annual Review of Development Effectiveness.

• [28] World Health Organization Fact Sheet "Sustainability and Optimization of Water Supply and Sanitation Services."

• [29] Number estimated from statistics in the 2006 United Nations Human Development Report.

• [30] World Health Organization. World Health Report 2003.

• [31] World Bank, All About: Water and Health, CNN, December 18, 2007

• [32] World Health Organization, Fact Sheet No. 112 - Water and Sanitation.

• [33] World Health Organization and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. "Water for Life: Making it Happen" 2005

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