Improve Health with Clean Water in Rural Cambodia

We all know how important water is, and it is hard to imagine life without it. In fact, we wouldn't be alive without it. Oxygen is the only element ranked before water as essential for life.

Having access to water is important not only for consumption, but for cooking, washing your hands, cleaning, bathing, gardening, good sanitation, the list is long. In developing countries, about 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions.

The task of finding water usually falls on the children or women. They often travel for long distances to get a bucket or two of water every day, draining them of time and energy that could be better spent on education or work. This loss of time indirectly impacts their livelihood by perpetuating the level of poverty they suffer. With a well near their home, finding water is no longer an ordeal.

Most people are aware of the direct connection between good health and the ability for a person to prosper. This idea manifests itself as children being able go to school when they are healthy, and parents having enough time and energy to work in the store, the home, or the fields.

A well provides an abundance of water and a consistent year-round supply for personal and agricultural purposes. If there is a lack of water for gardening, that leads to a lack of food. Low agricultural productivity often means there is little, if any, surplus from the family garden to sell as income, and low income leads to continued poor nutrition and poor health. Water that is plentiful and available for irrigation results in people being healthier and having more crops to better feed their families and generate income.

Clean water is necessary for good health and a person's wellbeing. About 60% of our body weight is made up of water. Water is fundamental to sustaining life and promoting overall wellness and being healthy. The availability of clean water directly impacts a number of aspects of health, from hydration of the body's major functions needed to survive, to disease prevention.

For Trailblazer, access to water and clean water go hand-in-hand and are our highest priorities. One must have water to live and prosper. Water can be sourced from a pond, a traditional pit well, rain catch, or a drilled well. However, most source water is not safe to drink. Water straight from a well may not be potable. Therefore, to compliment our work in providing access to water through wells, we also provide bio-sand water filters to purify the source water and make it drinkable. Together, access to water and clean water is life giving and life saving.

Your contributions to our health program is saving lives and we sincerely thank you for helping make a true difference in the lives of poor rural Cambodian families.