💧 Humanity in Deep Water: How Clean Water Can Solve Global Problems

🌍 What’s the most pressing global issue today? Is enough being done to solve it?

While poverty, hunger, education, and climate change often grab headlines, a growing number of experts argue that these crises are actually symptoms of something more basic: a lack of clean water.

In this blog-based lesson, you’ll:

• Read an eye-opening transcript from a global campaign

• Understand how water access underpins other global goals

• Learn powerful new vocabulary and idioms

• Reflect and discuss real-world solutions to world problems

🌐 The Global Crisis Few Talk About

In 2015, the United Nations launched an ambitious mission: to conquer 17 of the world’s biggest problems—from climate change and poverty to inequality and hunger—within 15 years.

But how could such massive issues be tackled?

💡 Their answer: Start with clean water.

Why water?

• 🧼 It’s essential for hygiene and health

• 🌾 Agriculture depends on it

• 🚰 Education suffers when children spend hours collecting it

• 🌍 Pollution increases when water isn’t safely managed

Water security isn’t just about drinking. It touches everything. Let’s explore this idea through the campaign’s transcript.

📖 Reading: Humanity in Deep Water

We all know these are difficult times and that countries need to work together to try to improve living standards for everyone—perhaps more than ever before. Deprivation, hunger, illiteracy, and environmental issues are the major problems humanity is facing in the 21st century. That’s why, in September 2015, the United Nations announced a plan to conquer these issues in 15 years.

The UN Summit upheld a plan to eliminate 17 global challenges. One simple way of summing them all up—or at least drawing them all together—is to see them through the lens of one key issue: clean water.

The lack of clean water has adverse effects on the opportunity to live a healthy life, pursue an education, grow food, or keep clean.

Addressing Hunger
Almost three-quarters of the world's freshwater is used in agriculture. With birth rates rising and food poverty increasing, it’s clear this sector needs reliable access to water.

Health
Whether it’s for drinking, sanitation, or producing medicine, clean water is essential for good health.

Life on Land
People buy about one million plastic bottles every minute—mostly for water. Yet only 10% of these are recycled, leaving the rest to pollute the Earth.

Inequality and Education
In many poor areas, it’s girls and women who collect water. This daily chore affects their education and future opportunities.

These are only some examples of why access to clean water is the place to start. Governments must undertake to tackle the water crisis as a priority.

✅ Comprehension Quiz: True, False, or Not Mentioned?

• The UN created a plan to conquer 17 global issues.

• Health is not strongly related to clean water.

• Most water bottles bought globally are recycled.

• Girls are often responsible for collecting water in poor communities.

• Access to clean water reduces the risk of war.

Answers:

• ✅ True

• ❌ False

• ❌ False

• ✅ True

• ❓Not Mentioned

🧠 Vocabulary Builder: Key Terms for Talking About World Issues

• Conquer – to successfully deal with or solve a problem

• Illiteracy – the inability to read or write

• Uphold – to support a decision or idea publicly

• Deprivation – not having the basic things you need to live

• Subsidize – to give financial support, especially from the government

• Onus – the responsibility or burden to do something

• Fast-track – to speed up a process or development

• Turn a blind eye – to ignore something deliberately

• Undertake – to take on a task or responsibility

👉 Challenge: Try using at least three of these words in your own example sentences!

💬 Water Idioms to Power Up Your English

Water touches our language as well as our lives. Try using these water-themed idioms in your conversations or writing:

• A drop in the ocean – a very small amount compared to what is needed
  "Providing a few bottles to a remote village is just a drop in the ocean."

• Come hell or high water – no matter what happens
  "We must act—come hell or high water."

• Pour cold water on something – to dismiss or discourage enthusiasm
  "Critics poured cold water on the global water initiative."

• In hot water – in trouble or facing criticism
  "Polluting companies are in hot water with environmental groups."

• Go with the flow – to adapt to situations without resistance
  "Many countries go with the flow instead of creating real change."

📘 Extended Reading: Think Big. Start Small.

Sometimes the best solutions to global issues start locally.

Example 1 – Nutrition Surveillance:
Poor nutrition in early childhood causes permanent mental and physical setbacks. Africa’s NEWS system monitors nutrition data to predict deficiencies. If scaled, it could help other countries fight malnutrition before it begins.

Example 2 – Digital Divide:
COVID-19 showed how essential digital access is. Governments in India, Germany, and the UK acted by subsidizing laptops or distributing tablets. These small actions helped millions stay connected to education and work.

Takeaway: Real change begins at home. Governments must think big but start small—and fast-track what works.

🌐 Eye-Opening Water Security Statistics

💧 1 in 4 people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water
– (Source: WHO & UNICEF, 2023)
That’s over 2 billion people living without this basic necessity.

🚰 Every day, over 700 children under 5 die from diarrheal diseases linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation.
– (UNICEF, 2023)

🌍 By 2025, half the world's population is expected to be living in water-stressed areas.
– (United Nations Environment Program)

🧼 Nearly 3 billion people lack access to basic handwashing facilities with soap and water at home.
– (WHO, 2022)

🌾 70% of all freshwater use globally goes to agriculture, yet many developing regions still face food insecurity due to water scarcity.
– (FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization)

📦 80% of wastewater produced globally is discharged untreated, polluting rivers, lakes, and oceans.
– (UNESCO, 2021)

🚿 One dripping tap can waste up to 5,000 liters of water per year—enough for a person to drink for 3 years.
– (National Geographic)

🚶‍♀️ In some parts of Africa and Asia, women and girls walk an average of 6 km per day to fetch water.
– (UN Water, 2022)
This limits their time for education and work, reinforcing gender inequality.

📈 Water demand is expected to increase by 30% by 2050, driven by population growth, urbanization, and climate change.
– (OECD & UN Water)

🗣️ Discussion Starters

• Do global organizations like the UN really make a difference?

• Can clean water access help reduce hunger, illiteracy, or poverty? How?

• How is water scarcity managed in your country?

• Which of the idioms would you use to describe current efforts—drop in the ocean or come hell or high water?

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