RTI uses cookies to offer you the best experience online. By clicking “accept” on this website, you opt in and you agree to the use of cookies. If you would like to know more about how RTI uses cookies and how to manage them please view our Privacy Policy here. You can “opt out” or change your mind by visiting: http://optout.aboutads.info/. Click “accept” to agree.
While the member states of the United Nations have set a goal to halve the proportion of people in the world without access to safe drinking water by 2015, more than one billion people worldwide still live in places where water is not safe to drink. Another 2.4 billion people have no access to proper sanitation. As a result, millions of people suffer and die every year from water-borne infectious diseases and exposure to chemical contaminants.1 Over 50% of hospitalizations in developing countries result from waterborne disease.2 Approximately 4 billion cases of diarrheal illness associated with inadequate water supply and sanitation cause nearly 3 million deaths annually. Most of these deaths are among children under the age of five.3 As ever, the world’s poorest people are the worst affected, with over 50 percent of populations in developing countries exposed to polluted water sources. Achieving widespread access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation are not only fundamental elements of economic development and poverty alleviation; they are a basic human right according to the UN.