World Water Day 2010 - Polluted water is more dangerous than war
Polluted water is killing more people each year than all forms of violence, including war, according to a United Nations report released today, World Water Day.
The report, titled "Sick Water," said that 3.7 percent of all deaths are linked to diseases that stem from 2 billion tons of contaminated water discharged daily across the world, including fertilizer runoff, sewage and industrial waste. More than half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients sick with water-related diseases, which will translate to millions of deaths, the report said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the casualties are preventable if world leaders focus more on clean drinking water and wastewater management. A United Nations report released today said dirty water kills more people each year than war.
"These deaths are an affront to our common humanity and undermine the efforts of many countries to achieve their development potential," Ban said in a statement. "The world has the know-how to solve these challenges and become better stewards of our water resources."
Ban said clean drinking water is a key element in enabling the U.N. to achieve its goals, including "improved maternal and child health and life expectancy, women's empowerment, food security, sustainable development and climate change adaptation and mitigation."
It takes three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water, and that bottled water in the U.S. requires the consumption of some 17 million barrels of oil annually, according to the report.




