Two thirds of our bodies weight and nine tenths of its volume is water.

That is why water essential for life. People can survive for up to two months without food, but die within three days without water

A person needs about 5 litres of water each day for cooking and drinking. But the World Bank estimates that a further 25-45 litres are needed for each person to stay clean and healthy. In many places the family’s water must be fetched each day by women or children.

In Kenya alone, it is estimated that 3 million women each spend an average of 3 hours a days on the single task to fetching water – that equals 9 million hours daily. Is There a Better Way?

• The most a woman can carry in comfort is 15 litres, each litre weighing one kilogram.
• If she carries only enough water for her family (husband, mother, five children) to survive each day, she would need to fetch about 40 litres.
• But to keep them all clean and healthy she would need to fetch 200 litres of water every day.

This is why the amount of water consumed depends largely on whether it has to be carried to the house.

Type of Facility Approximate consumption per person in 10-litre buckets. (first row of buckets – No tap or standpipe 1.2)

Meanwhile people in the industrialised world use

• 22 litres each time a toilet is flushed
• 150,000 litres to produce a ton of steel
• 750,000 litres to produce a ton of newsprint

• Beyond Oil: The Threat to Food and Fuel in the Coming Decades, A Summary Report. 1986. Carrying Capacity. Inc., 1325 G Street, NW, Suite 1002, Washington, D.C. 20005.
• Courier, January 1985, a publication of UNESCO, 7 Place de Fentenoy, 75700 Paris.
• Decade Watch, International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, published quarterly by the United Nations Development Programme. Division of Information, One UN Plaza. New York, NY 10017.
• EPA Journal, Vol. 12 No. 7, September 1986 and Vol. 11. No. 7, September 1985, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Public Affairs, Washington. DC 20460.
• Is There a Better Way? June 1985, United Nations Development Program, Division of Information, New York, New York 10017.
• The New Internationalist, No. 103, September 1981, 175 Carlton St., Toronto. Ontario M5A 2K3; for subscription enquiries: P O Box 1143, Lewiston, NY 14092.
• The Real Cost, Richard North, 1986, Chatto and Windus Ltd., 40 William IV Street. London WC2N 4DF.
• State Government News, Vol. 29 No. 5, June 1986, The Council of State Governments. Iron Works Pike, P O Box 11910, Lexington, KY 40578.
• World Military & Social Expenditures 1986, Ruth Leger Sivard, World Priorities, Inc., Box 25140, Washington, DC 20007. Worldwatch Paper 62 Water: Rethinking Management in an Age of Scarcity, December 1984 and
• Worldwatch Paper 64 Investing In Children, June 1985, The Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036.

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