Vocabulary

Accessibility is the ability to obtain or retrieve something when needed.
Availability is the quality of being at hand when needed.
Contaminate is when something becomes impure by exposure to, or addition of a poisonous or polluting substance.
Distribution is the act of sharing or giving something out.
Quality is the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.
Reliability is the quality of being dependable or reliable.
Sanitation are conditions relating to public health, especially the provision of clean drinking water and adequate sewage disposal. 

Purpose - Sanitation and Distribution Challenges

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In Sub-Unit 2.1 children explored the systems in the human body that depend on water, and in Sub-Unit 1.2 they explored infrastructures relating to water storage and distribution within their community. In this Sub-Unit, children analyze the global challenges relating to the sanitation and distribution of sufficient clean drinking water. The purpose for this is that children appreciate the vital importance of sufficient, clean drinking water as a fundamental human right.
Child Asks: What affects the sanitation and distribution of clean drinking water?
Children's Rights Education: Provides ways to analyze the challenges in the sanitation and distribution of water.
Child Answers: Neglect can lead to water contamination, disease, and shortages.

Classroom Learning Activities

1. 
The Challenge of Water Contamination
Typhoid Bacteria
What is water contamination?
Water sanitation is the condition of providing clean drinking water to every human. In many instances, water becomes contaminated, or unfit for human consumption, and this leads to life threatening diseases such as:
1.  Typhoid - Which is an infectious bacterial fever with an eruption of red spots on the chest and abdomen and severe intestinal irritation. Research:
           a) What are bacteria? 
           b) Which bacteria causes typhoid?
           c) How is the typhoid bacteria spread through water?
2.   Amoebiasis is an infection with amebas, especially those causing dysentery. Research:
           a) What is an amoeba?
           b) Where do amoebas come from?
           c) What is dysentery and why is it life threatening?
           d) How do amoebas cause dysentery?
3.   Diarrhea is a condition in which faeces are discharged from the bowels frequently and in a liquid form. Research:
           a) What is diarrhea?
           b) What causes diarrhea?
           c) How can diarrhea kill?

What causes water to become contaminated?
For many developing communities around the world, the same water source that’s used to collect household water for drinking and cooking is also used as a dumping ground for human and animal waste. Often, these water sources are also plagued with bacteria and contaminants. Research the reasons how water becomes contaminated. 

Water Contamination Facts: 
  1. How many people do not have access to safe drinking water around the world?
  2. How many people are without access to adequate sanitation facilities?
  3. How many children die because of water-related diseases?
  4. Did you know that some girls do not continue to go to school because there are no clean or private washrooms for them to use? Can you find out how many girls drop out of school because of this? Check Free the Children.
  5. How do climate changes affect the quality of water?
2. 
The Challenge of Water Distribution
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Woman carrying water in Chipata

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A Long Walk to Water
by
Linda Sue Park
What is water distribution?
The lack of clean water is responsible for more deaths in the world than war. In some countries, many people do not have access to safe drinking water, which affects their health. It is not that the world doesn't have sufficient fresh drinking water, it is just that it is not always available where it is needed. Research the following questions to understand more about this issue:
  1. In which regions in the world is there a lack of clean, fresh drinking water?
  2. Where in the world is there an abundance of water?
  3. How much of the fresh water used is for personal use? What is the rest of the water consumed for?
  4. What environmental causes affect the availability of water?
  5. What are some of the methods people around the globe use to distribute water? 

Novel Study: A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park -The New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way. Retrieved from Good Reads. 

Recommended Novel Study from University of Queensland Press (Middle Years)


Water Distribution Facts:
  1. Population growth and urbanization including growth of small/medium size unplanned towns;
  2. Climate change;
  3. Aging, deteriorating or out-dated critical infrastructure. 
Retrieved from World Water Week (Stockholm, 2011)
Water Supply Video (2009) describes water supply and management issues. 
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
Water for South Sudan
Documentary video of how Water for South Sudan transforms lives by drilling wells and providing safe, fresh water. Produced by POV-Rose Media, Rochester, NY for Water for South Sudan.

Relevant Convention Articles

Article 6
1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life.
2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.
Article 24
1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures:
(a) To diminish infant and child mortality;
(b) To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care;
(c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution;
(d) To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers;
(e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents;
(f) To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and services.
3. States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.
4. States Parties undertake to promote and encourage international co-operation with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right recognized in the present article. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Online Resources and References

UNICEF - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
World Health Organization - Universal access to water and sanitation: The lifeblood of good health
NURU - First Water and Sanitation Training in Kuria, KenyaFree the Children - Clean Water and Sanitation Facts
National Academy of Engineering of the National Academies - Provide access to clean water
World Water Week (Stockholm, 2011)
Water for South Sudan - Drilling Wells, Transforming Lives