We hear it a lot, water conservation.  Talking about it in class and hearing about it in articles and in the news, water conservation seems to be a big deal everywhere.  Did you know though, people in developing countries pay more for their water than those people in big cities like New York?  Studies have shown that water resources and poverty are very closely related.  It is shown that at any given moment up to half of the people in poverty stricken countries suffer from some sort of health problem from water deficiencies.  There are almost 1.1 billion people in these countries that dont have access to the water they need to survive.  Having inadequate water resources leads to many deaths in third world countries.  1.4 million children will die each year from not having enough water to survive.  Finding and gathering water becomes part of peoples daily lives.  Women spend several hours a day collecting water in buckets and baskets that they carry for miles.  Another study states that only 12 percent of the world uses 85 percent of its water!  These 12 percent dont even live close to a third world country.  These numbers are dramatic and tell a story within themselves of poverty stricken countries not having enough water to support the people living there.  People  in third world countries are not the only ones affected by the water shortages though.  Studies in Detroit show that around 100,000 people face water shortages. Many times its because they have fallen behind on their bills and make daily trips to get water.  Water has been said to be a human right, in constitutions and spoken by mouth throughout the world.  But if it is a human right, why are millions of people without it everyday?

http://www.globalissues.org/article/601/water-and-development