Drinking water, a global issue
Safe drinking water, so vital to human life, is not available to all. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2002, one person in six had no other choice than to consume potentially contaminated water . The Millennium Development Goals commit the nations of the world to reduce to half the percentage of people without access to potable water, by 2015*.
Water and water-related disease
Contaminated by pathogenic micro-organisms, unsafe drinking water causes numerous diseases and epidemics, many of them deadly. Each year, more than two million people (90% are less than five years old) die from water-borne diseases, that is from water contaminated by bacteria, viruses or parasites. On a global level, an estimated 2.6 billion people have no access to potable water, or to an appropriate sanitation system including latrines, hygiene and washing facilities.
Similarly, millions of
people do not have access to essential
hygiene information which could help to protect their family’s health.
One example is the knowledge that washing hands with soap is one of the
most effective, and cheapest, methods to avoid pneumonia and diarrhoeal
diseases.
The supply of clean water, and basic hygiene education, could
significantly help to mitigate a great many devastating diseases such
as cholera, typhoid fever and diarrhoea.
The water-borne solution of Antenna Technologies
Antenna Technologies has therefore developed a product line of electrolysers under the WATA® label, part of the WATASOL approach which is as much method as it is technology.
Specifically suited to the needs of the most vulnerable communities, these devices produce a concentrated solution of active chlorine which can be used for chlorinating drinking water, also for disinfecting hygiene-sensitive premises and equipment. Learn more about WATA devices.
* References ( pdf):
OMS & UNICEF, Meeting the MDG drinking water and sanitation target: A mid-term assessment of progress, 2004 (pdf file, 2.5 Mo)
UNESCO & WWAP, The 1st UN World Water Development Report: Water for People, Water for Life. 2003 (pdf file, 740 Ko)