NATIONAL

NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/MAGAZINE MAY 2017

GEOGRAPHIC
SAN PEDRO RIVER

YEMEN

MEDICINES IN NATURE

A Closer Look:
WATER & POVERTY
Explore why some of the poorest people on
earth rely on clean water to rise above poverty.
$9.99
 NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC
MAY 2017 VOL. 300 NO. 1

FEATURED ARTICLE GEOGRAPHY

Yemen 535 To see up-to-date
A Closer Look: 3
Water & Poverty. 80 stories and view our
San Pedro River
photo galleries, visit:
Get a peak into the lives of HEALTH
the poorest people on earth NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM
Medicines In Nature 710
and delbilitating effects of
lacking natural resources. The Fighting the Flu 440
impacts are closer to home On the Cover:
than you may expect. Ebola: On its Way Out 182 The image of a young Liberian
boy showing the source of his
water supply.

Photos Courtesy of: Living Water International NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAY 2017 2
 & P OV ERT Y
WAT ER

The water crisis reaches beyond those who are directly affected by it. Lack of clean water
not only holds back third-world countries from developing, but it has affects on the
worlds economy as well. By: Paul Derilek
T
he poorest people in the world actually pay some of the worlds highest
prices for drinking water, and the water they get is less clean and less $1 Invested
plentiful. The poor pay more in the form of lost time, health, education,
and life, but also in monetary terms. More than any other factor, water scarcity
keeps the poorest people in the world entrapped in a cycle of extreme poverty.
In the end all of humanity pays the price. The good news is that is doesnt have
to be this way.
THE POOR PAY MORE WOMEN AND CHILDREN =
nomic Retur
E co
People living in the slums of Nairobi, FIRST!
Jakarta, and Manila actually pay In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, 40 n

5 to 10 times more for water than
those in high income areas of those
same cities. The poorest 20 percent
of households in El Salvador and
Nicaragua spend on average more
than 10 percent of their household
income on water. In the U.S. the
median household spends only 1.1
percent of its income on water and
sewage. For the poorest of the poor,
the water bill may be the worlds
most retrogressive taxon life itself.
Each Year
billion hours a year are spent mostly
by womenjust hauling water.
Thats equivalent to a years labor
for the entire workforce of France.
The result, known as time-poverty,
affects women and girls most. About
half the girls in Sub-Saharan Africa
who drop out of primary school do so
because of poor water and sanitation.
At any given time close to half of the
people in the developing world are
suffering from one or more of the
diseases associated with inadequate
water and sanitation. Each year, 443
million school days are lost from
water-related illnessequivalent to
$8
ROI
The payoff for water provision is big.
Every $1 invested in water and
sanitation generates on average an $8
return in the form of saved time,
increased productivity, and reduced
health costs.8 This does not even
include new productivity made pos-
sible by water access. The long-term
benefits of access to clean water

443 MILLION an entire school year for all seven-

year-old children in Ethiopia. Lack
would be felt by all of us in the
form of decreases in economic aid,
School Days of education keeps children from increased productivity, lower infant
getting out of poverty. Lack of water mortality, decreased population
Are Lost Due To deprives children from education. burden, increased educational
Water-Related opportunity, and decreased time
ILLNESS povertynot to mention the ethical
payoff of giving life to those who
most need it. =

Photo Courtesy of: Living Water International NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAY 2017 4