Quick facts

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Today, more than one billion people do not have access to clean water and 2.5 billion do not have access to sanitation.
On an average, the human body needs between one and seven liters of water a day to avoid dehydration.
Every 15 seconds a child dies from diseases that could be avoided with better water quality.
More people die due to lack of water than from tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS combined.
Primarily, women and children fetch water in rural communities of poor countries. They carry the water on their heads in buckets that often weigh over 20 kilo.
In developing countries, women who live in rural areas spend a quarter of their day carrying water and children, girls in particular, are prevented from attending school because they need to fetch water.
Millions of people suffer from water-related diseases that are transmitted by insects (such as mosquitoes and flies) that breed or live in pools of water.
Water does not respect national boundaries. It rains, snows and flows where it wants. Over the past 50 years, about 500 armed conflicts have started about water.

Sources: Unicef, Water Aid, UN