“Because no matter who we are we are or where we come from, were all entitled to the basic human rights of clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and a healthy land to call home. “
Martin Luther King
After writing my AIDS essay a few days ago my computer died so I wrote some of this essay about the other big killer in the developing world dirty drinking water in my messy scrawling style in a pad and just trying to type it up and finish it now.
“Some 829 000 people are estimated to die each year from diarrhoea as a result of unsafe drinking-water sanitation and hand hygiene.”
However, charities like Oxfam Community Aid Abroad do a lot to alleviate this problem and so do the governments in the developed world with their aid work but still much more can be done.
According to World Vision’s Australian website: “Tippy taps are simple and cost-effective hand washing stations built from local materials. They can help maintain hygiene in developing countries.”
According to Akuopedia website:
“The construction costs of the Tippy Tap are in the range of $0 if second hand materials are used ,2-4 US dollars if new materials are purchased.”
I guess the biggest cost and human resource are the people trained to make them to go to the developed world to set them up.
What is a tippy tap?
“It’s a simple construction of three sticks holding up a jerry can. A piece of string and a fourth stick make a foot pedal, “tipping” the jerry can and producing a flow of clean, uncontaminated water.
Add in a bar of soap in an onion bag, and you have a simple but incredibly effective hand-washing station.
Hand-washing with soap has been proven to reduce disease in a community by up to 50%. The “tippy tap” is a key tool in our fight against waterborne diseases and the devastating effect it has on people living in poverty.”
Oxfam Australia website
I drink three litres of water a day from the tap in Australia and couldn’t imagine what it would be like to only have dirty drinking water and getting sick all the time as a result.
“According to the UN,3 billion people worldwide lack basic handwashing facilities at home, which is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Access to clean water allows for proper water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and much more to promote health and survival.”
Clean Waters International
In conclusion tippy taps are one solution but the issues of how to help create sustainable clean drinking water and clean water for hand washing hygiene for everyone in the developing world is very complex and as I researched the issue realised that its perhaps best for more research of specialists in the field as a specialist could do that. And I am sure that many aid agencies and governments from the developed world have specialists in the field have done their homework on this issue already. I noticed on the Canadian government website many answers to this issue. However, I hope this simple essay is just a taster for people to think and act on the issue and provide funding but also the technology to solve this pressing crisis. While I was finishing this essay, I started drinking my usual refrigerated three litres of clean Australian tap water that I have every day and I used to take it for granted until now and hope for the day when everyone can have this opportunity one day soon.
