Clean Water

Speech 3
Stephen R. Caruso



Clean Water in the Developing World
General Purpose: To Inform
Specific Purpose: To inform the audience of the inadequate supply of global clean
water
Thesis: As the global population grows, developing nations are finding it harder and
harder to supply their citizens with clean and safe water, it has been left to
organizations to solve this problem
Preview: Clean water initiatives have shown that with cooperation, we can help
bring clean water to all corners of the globe.
Organizational Pattern: Chronological

I. We are in a water crisis right now.
A. To begin with a statistic from the United Nations Water Commission
1. 780 million people lack access to clean, safe drinking water today
a. This fact suggests that in the current day and age, where we
all have iPhones and the ability to access any piece of
information in a matter of seconds, so people have to travel
miles a day to get water.
b. And the water they get isnt always totally safe for
consumption.
B. The lack of clean water has spelled danger for adults and children alike.
a. A statistic from the UNWC has 2.5 billion people living
without adequate sanitation systems across the world.
b. The current lack in proper sanitation results in an increase
in medical issues related to the developing parts of the world.
C. According to Water.org , the clean water foundation started by the actor
Matt Damon in order to bring this problem to the public eye.
a. 3.4 million people die every year from a lack of clean water,
hygiene, and proper sanitation
i. 99% of these deaths are in the developing portions of
the world.
b. In addition to this statistic, every 21 seconds a child in the
developing parts of the world passes away from water related
disease, in many cases, from diarrhea.
II. How has the developed world started helping?
A. Many NGOs (Non Government Organizations) have been established in
order to start the process of ensuring that everyone has safe access to water.
B. I would like to highlight two of these groups.
a. Water.org, which I have mentioned before was created as a
joint venture between Matt Damons H20Africa and Gary
Whites WaterPartners.
b. White is the current CEO at Water.org
c. Water.org is an interesting organization because of how they
approached the problem.
i. Water.org works to partner with local industries and
firms in order to both create a sustainable solution that
allows the local population continued access to clean
water.
ii. They have started successful projects across the
world in places such as; Ghana, Uganda, and Kenya.
(Water.org)
C. The second firm is Charity: Water, a non-profit organization based out of
New York City
a. This firm was started in order to both increase the overall
public awareness of the water problem as well as working
to create clean water resources in each project location.
b. CW uses a system when it builds a new Water Project in a
village. This usually entails establishing a Water Committee
that overseas the project and manages maintenance and
expansion. It then brings in a hygiene worker that reteaches
the village proper hygiene so that illness resulting from
improper practices drops to a lower level.
c. Charity: Water uses 100% of the public donations it gets.
(Charity: Water)
III. So now we know who, but what has been done?
A. I have chosen to highlight three of the most interesting clean water
projects I have come across. These are, the Saravajal Water ATMs, Sachet
Water in Lagos, and the internationally acclaimed Life Straw personal
filtration device.
a. The Saravajal Water ATM was a project started by a private
firm to shrink the number of users per tap in the Delhi slums
which often reached 50 people to 1 tap (Carr, urb.im1).
i. The ATM is solar-powered and allows people to
purchase the clean water with prepaid cards or with
coins. The price is kept below the level of other
alternatives in the area to encourage its use.
ii. The machines are accessible 24/7 and rarely break,
and when they do, the pay-per use model encourages
the operate to preform repairs. (Carr, urb.im1)
b. The second system that struck me was the packing of water
in sachets in Lagos.
i. They relatively wealthy of Lagos rely on private
companies to supply them with water. But the poor do
not have said luxury so they turn to the sachet water.
ii. The water is sold for roughly 6 cents for 500ml and is
sold at vendors throughout the cities.
iii. Recently, it was found that some manufactures were
using less than clean methods to package and store the
water, which has caused some controversy in the area
and has resulted in caution when using this product.
(Okoye, urb.im2)

c. The third system is the Life Straw Personal, which is sold by
Vestergarrd. The funds it earns from these sales are in turn
spent providing the children of Kenya with their own
Life Straws so that they can gain access to clean water
wherever they are.
i. Life Straw has also created systems that allow a whole
family to have access to clean water for up to a year
before it has to be replaced. (Life straw)
ii. Although this system does not have the infrastructure
of other projects, its ease of use and abilities make it
one of the best fixes until a better solution is found.

These groups and systems would be nothing without the human capital behind
them, pushing for a better tomorrow.

IV. CONCLUSION

A. Today, I have covered two of the groups who are at the forefront of the
group in implementing safe, sustainable water systems for those who
wouldnt normally have the chance to attain that. These initiatives have
already brought clean water to millions of people, and with continued efforts,
we can continue to dwindle that number.

B. Before I leave today, I want to leave you with a statistic that I mentioned
at the start of my speech. According to Water.org, one child passes away
every 21 seconds from a water-borne illness, in 2009 though, that number
was every 15 seconds. In four years, we have shrunk that number by 6
seconds. Imagine what we could do in the next four.

Thank You for your time
















Works Cited
Carr, Carlin. "Infrastructure Gaps and Clean Water." URBim. URBim. Web. 06 Apr.
2014.
"Facts and Figures." 2013. United Nations Water Commission. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
"How We Work." Water Projects. Charity: Water. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
Okoye, Victoria. "Infrastructure Gaps and Clean Water." URBim. Urbim, 06 Aug. 2012.
Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
"Sales of Life Straw help save Lives around the World." Life Straw. Vestergarrd. Web.
06 Apr. 2014.
"Water.org." Waterorg. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.