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Water
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introduction
One-sixth (1.1 billion people) of the world's population is without access to safe water supply and two-fifths (2.4 billion people) lack access to adequate sanitation. The majority of these people live in Asia and Africa, where fewer than one-half of all Asians have access to improved sanitation and two out of five Africans lack improved water supply.
(Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report)
The current best estimates of water-related deaths fall between 2 and 5 million deaths per year. The vast majority of those dying from water-related disease are small children struck by virulent but preventable diarrhoeal diseases. (Pacific Institute)
Worldwide, the consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, at more than twice the rate of the increase in human population. Today, says the UN, 31 countries are facing water stress and scarcity. By the year 2025, as much as two-thirds of the world's population will be living in conditions of serious water shortage and one-third will be living in conditions of absolute water scarcity.
(Blue Gold, by Maude Barlow)
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