Each individual needs at least 50 liters of water every day to meet basic needs like drinking, personal hygiene, cooking and cleaning. In areas of western India, the Sahel, and West Africa, dry season availability can fall below five liters a day. In the US, a typical five minute shower uses more water than a person in a slum may have available all day.
Poor people living in slums often pay five to ten times more per liter for water than people with connections in their homes. About a third of the people without access to water live on less than a dollar a day.
Diarrhea caused by unclean water is one of the world's greatest killers, claiming the lives of five times as many children as HIV/AIDs.
Water insecurity linked to climate changes threatens to increase malnutrition in 75-125 million people by 2080, with staple food production in many sub-Saharan African countries falling by more than 25%.
Inadequate sanitation for millions of women and girls leads to a loss of dignity and is a source of insecurity. Many women must wait until before dawn or after dusk for privacy, at which times they may be at higher risk for attacks.
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