Water is bedrock. Without this most basic necessity, people cannot survive. When access to water is difficult, time and productivity — and educational opportunities — are lost. When water isn’t clean, children and families are at risk for illness and death.
Celebrated every March 22 since the U.N. declared it in 1992, World Water Day exists to raise awareness around water’s fundamental role in development. Promoting access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene is a central component of ChildFund’s ongoing work in developing countries.
Take our water facts matching quiz and learn more about how much further the world has to go. (Answers are below, or here if you'd like the information in a more direct format.)
| Questions | Answers |
 | 1. | Current world population | | 2. | Gallons of water used in taking a bath, in each run of a typical dishwasher, in a single flush of a toilet and in taking a shower, respectively | | 3. | Amount of the world’s fresh water readily accessible for human consumption | | 4. | Percentage of the world’s freshwater that goes to agriculture | | 5. | Percentage of all waste that is untreated | | 6. | Economic return on every $1 invested in water and sanitation | | 7. | People worldwide who lack access to safe water supplies | | 8. | Number of people without access to adequate sanitation facilities | | 9. | Number of viruses, bacteria and worm eggs (respectively) contained in one gram of fecal matter | | 10. | Number of grams of fecal matter that can kill a child under 5 | | 11. | Percentage of the world’s people living in poverty who are sick any given day from causes connected to water supply, hygiene or sanitation | | 12. | Number of people each year who die from waterborne illnesses such as cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, dengue fever, typhoid, malaria and others | | 13. | Number of children under 5 who die from diarrhea each year | | 14. | Number of children under 5 who die from waterborne illness each day |
| | a. 1 | | b. 1.5 million | | c. 2.5 billion | | d. 6.9 billion | | e. 10 million, 1 million, 100 | | f. 3,575,000 | | g. 50 | | h. 80 | | i. 50, 20, 3, 2.5 | | j. 24,000 | | k. 1 in 8 | | l. 70 | | m. $3 to $34 | | n. less than 1 percent |
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Resources: UNICEF, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Water.org, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, the World Bank and the World Health Organization
| Make a Difference |
| You can help provide clean, safe water for nearly 5,000 children in one of the poorest countries in the world — Liberia. Lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation is a leading cause of malnutrition, and in Liberia, more than 40 percent of children under age 5 are malnourished. Fund a Project is one way our supporters can make a difference in specific efforts. Contribute today toward bringing wells to a community in Liberia. |
Answers:
1. d 2. i 3. n 4. l 5. h 6. m 7. k 8. c 9. e 10. a 11. g 12. f 13. b 14. j