Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
About GFA
Ministries
Free Resources
Social Media
- Facebook
- Instagram
- Pinterest
- Twitter
- Youtube
Archives
FREE NEWSLETTER

Home
Evangelical
Dying of Thirst: The Global Pure Water Crisis (#3 by Gospel for Asia)

Dying of Thirst: The Global Pure Water Crisis (#3 by Gospel for Asia)

Last updated on: September 10, 2022 at 7:47 pm by GFA Staff Writer

Dying of Thirst: The Global Pure Water Crisis (#3 by Gospel for Asia) 2022-09-10T19:47:36+00:00 GFA Staff Writer

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Special Report #1 – Discussing the world’s quest for access to pure water that is safe to drink.

India: Success and Challenge

In recent decades, India has emerged as a global economic powerhouse. It is now the seventh-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product (GDP)[27] and at least the fourth largest in purchasing power parity.[1] Much of this success stems from the technology field, India’s fastest-growing sector. Information technology, process outsourcing and software services are among the country’s booming industries.

India is suffering the worst water crisis in its history.

But success is accompanied by great challenges. India is home to about 1.34 billion people and is still growing. Its population, now the world’s second largest,[2] is projected to overtake China’s as early as 2024.[3] This has placed unprecedented stress on the country’s water resources, which are already stretched to meet the needs of a growing population.

In June 2018, the Indian think tank NITI Aayog released a comprehensive report on India’s water status. Among its conclusions:

India is suffering the worst water crisis in its history.[4]
200,000 Indians die each year from lack of clean water.[5]
600 million Indians face high-to-extreme water stress.[6]
By 2020, 21 cities could completely run out of groundwater.[7]
By 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the supply.[8]

The booming cities have borne a large portion of India’s water stress. Bangalore, known by some as India’s Silicon Valley, is a good example. The city’s needs were once met by wells that reached 300 feet deep. But now, 400 bore wells must go down as far as 1,500 feet to find water. How long will that suffice? No one knows.

In this remote village, a Jesus Well provides safe, pure water to many families. Each Jesus Well serves an average of 300 people for about 20 years, and the wells may be drilled up to 600 feet deep, providing pure water in even the worst droughts.

In the countryside, the challenges are different but just as dire. Agriculture uses some 80 percent of India’s water.[9] When water is unavailable, the farmers feel it immediately. They can quickly lose their livelihoods.

Meanwhile, millions of Indians have no reliable access to water at all.

Much of India is arid or semi-arid. Vast areas receive rain only sporadically from storms brought by the summer monsoons. Many people collect their water from surface sources, which are often contaminated. The daily trek to a local pond is a regular feature of life for many rural Indians. They may walk for hours just to obtain their day’s supply of water. That leaves little time to work productively or improve their lives.

For years, Gospel for Asia (GFA) has been helping to equip national workers to get wells installed in needy communities. They’re called Jesus Wells and are fitted with a plaque sharing Christ’s words to the Samaritan woman:

“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13–14).

Israel: A Glimpse into the Future

While discussions of global water issues typically focus on the problems, it’s also helpful to consider the success stories. One of those is the tiny state of Israel.

After World War I, the territory of Palestine came under the control of the United Kingdom. As the British government was considering what to do with this important strip of land, its economists concluded that the area’s water resources could only support about 2 million people.[10] There were slightly more than 800,000 residents there at the time. But after the modern state of Israel was created in 1948, that number nearly doubled in just three years—and kept climbing.[11] Today, Israel is home to more than 8 million people,[12] with another 2.8 million in the West Bank[13] and 1.8 million in the Gaza Strip.[14]

Clearly, a drastic program was needed to meet the water demands of this booming population. Through the efforts of visionaries such as water engineer Simcha Blass, Israel not only met this challenge but became an exporter of water technology, water-intensive crops—and water itself. The story of that success can serve as a model and inspiration for other countries.

Israel points the way to a future free from water insecurity.

Simcha Blass, an Israeli visionary in the clean water field. Photo by Ybact on Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0

Israel’s leaders realized that all those new immigrants would need to eat, so food production became an urgent priority. The Negev in the south of Israel was a vast dry desert where few people lived. But Simcha Blass was convinced there was water underground that could be accessed through deep drilling. He was right. That was the beginning of an agricultural boom in one of the world’s most inhospitable environments. Some people saw it as a fulfillment of the prophecy in the book of Isaiah: “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom” (Isaiah 35:1 niv).

Blass also envisioned pipelines that would stretch from the water-rich north of Israel to the south where water was most needed. Through years of effort, his visions became reality.

Israel’s visionaries then turned their sights to the world’s most abundant water source—the oceans. The idea of processing seawater for drinking and agriculture has long been an elusive dream for people around the world. Israeli scientists experimented with several desalination techniques, most of which proved too costly to be practical. But with perseverance, Israel developed a system which, though still expensive, provides an important supplement to its other water sources. Israel now has several functioning desalination plants on its Mediterranean coast, which provide an astonishing 27 percent of the country’s water.[15] Most importantly, the desalination plants serve as a kind of insurance policy against severe droughts and other disruptions. The ocean, after all, is always there.

Drilling for water in Qumeran Valley, Israel
Photo by Tamarah on Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 2.5

Reclaimed waste water is another promising source of water for agriculture that Israel has used effectively. The idea of reusing sewage is repulsive to most people, but when water is at a premium, as in Israel, it’s an option that can’t be ignored. The main concern with recycled waste water is that dangerous microbes or other contaminants might remain even after processing. That could endanger anyone exposed to it, as well as the crops treated with it and the groundwater under the crops. Israel addressed this risk with a process that resembles a giant version of the BioSand water filters described earlier.

Israel’s sewage treatment plants were located near some sand dunes, under which there was a known water aquifer. The water engineers began speculating: What if the treated waste water were released into the sand and allowed to percolate down into the groundwater? Would the sand act as an effective filter? It was a risky experiment, but worth trying. After more than a year, the results were in. Yes, the sand made the water clean, safe enough for agricultural use. Today, Israel reuses more than 85 percent of its sewage, which provides 21 percent of its water.[16]

Israel also pioneered the use of drip irrigation, which made it possible to grow abundant crops by using limited water supplies efficiently.

These innovations may seem out of reach for many developing countries. Their implementation would require concerted, long-term effort, and they can be expensive. But they show what is possible. These are things we know can be done—because they have been done. They point the way to a future free from pure water insecurity. And that’s something all people can aspire to.

Internally Displaced People fill containers with water at a tap inside the Dalori camp in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Photo by Ashley Gilbertson VII Photo, UNICEF

The Big Picture

The world’s need for pure water has only accelerated with the inexorable growth in population, which could reach another 2 billion by 2050. And by then the demand for water could increase by 30 percent.[17]

The United Nations has appropriately designated March 22 as World Water Day to focus on the global need for pure water. Along with international bodies like the U.N. and the World Health Organization, countless nonprofits and NGOs are addressing the issue. Many of them focus on Africa, which has some of the most severe water problems. But Asia is in urgent need of help too, and even affluent countries are not immune from water emergencies.

Those who deal with the global pure water crisis recognize the critical need for funds to attack the problem. Usually, the people most in need don’t address their own problems because they simply can’t. They don’t have the resources. And they often don’t have the leisure time to think beyond their immediate survival. So outside funds are essential to solving the problem. But that’s not all that’s needed.

The world’s need for pure water has only accelerated with the inexorable growth in population.
By 2050, the demand for water could increase by 30%.

Relief organizations that drill wells in poor communities must also think about their long-term maintenance. When the local people haven’t been taught how to care for the wells, over time those wells become useless. In a 2009 report, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) noted that 50,000 such wells in rural Africa had become nonfunctional. The reason was distressingly clear: “The root cause is the water community’s failure to plan for maintenance of the infrastructure in a systematic way …”[18]

Outside organizations came in, installed wells with the best of intentions, and then left. But their work did not endure.

Keeping It Local

Each Jesus Well provides clean water to an average of 300 people each day.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) knows of the pitfalls that beset many relief efforts. To ensure their work will be sustainable while keeping costs low, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers employ local people to drill Jesus Wells, and they train local people to maintain the wells. In addition, Jesus Wells are constructed with local components, making them much less expensive than those brought in from outside. Buying materials in bulk saves even more money. Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers can install a complete well for 1,400 USD. By drilling deep, they can reach water that may have been inaccessible before. Villagers can be assured of pure water even through the dry seasons.

Jesus Wells are conveniently located for community access, and the water is always freely available to anyone, regardless of religion, class or background. Each Jesus Well serves an average of 300 people, and the wells are built to last for decades.

Along with providing pure water, Jesus Wells strengthen the local economy and inspire a healthy pride of ownership.

In 2017, Gospel for Asia (GFA) helped install more than 4,600 Jesus Wells in Asian communities. But that’s just a start. With the generous support of donors throughout the world, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers will continue to help address the global water crisis—one community at a time.

Six Steps to Pure Water Security

The world’s water problems can seem overwhelming. Some of the solutions are complex, difficult and expensive. But others are simple, easy and cheap. Here’s a short list of things that can make a difference—starting with the easiest and ending with the ones that still await as promises for the future.

Provide BioSand water filters.
Just one of these portable, inexpensive items can literally save an entire family from a life of sickness and hardship. To deprive vulnerable people of this simple solution would be tragic.
Drill deep wells.
Not every well will endure through droughts and overuse, but here’s the key to long-term success: Don’t stop when you hit water! Keep drilling. Deep wells will ensure the water keeps flowing through the dry times.
Train local people to maintain the wells.
What good is a well that’s broken or contaminated? Remember 50,000 wells in Africa alone are sitting unused because of inadequate maintenance. It’s not enough to provide the well. Instilling the knowledge to maintain it over the years is also essential.
Launch water-reclamation programs.
Sewage may be unpleasant, but it’s also a valuable resource. Properly treated, reclaimed water can revolutionize agriculture almost anywhere in the world.
Develop national water policies.
Water is a community resource. It can’t be managed effectively with scattered, isolated efforts. Most national governments are grappling with this reality. Some are responding with effective programs. That must happen on a wider scale.
Pursue desalination.
It’s expensive now. But so are sickness, poverty and death. The ocean is the one water source that will never be depleted. This is a promising avenue for the future.

Dying of Thirst: The Global Water Crisis – The Crucial Quest for Access to Clean Water: Part 1 | Part 2

This Special Report article originally appeared on gfa.org.

Read the Global Clean Water Crisis Report: Finding Solutions to Humanity’s Need for Pure, Safe Water.

Learn more about how to provide clean water to families and villages through Jesus Wells and BioSand Water Filters.

To read more on the global crisis for water on Patheos, go here.

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Go here to know more about Gospel for Asia: Radio | About | Integrity | Facebook | Lawsuit

Footnotes

[1] World Fact Book. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html. Accessed January 24, 2019.
[2] U.S. Census Bureau Current Population. U.S. Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/popclock/print.php?component=counter. January 1, 2019. Accessed January 24, 2019.
[3] India’s Population to Surpass that of China around 2024: UN. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indias-population-to-surpass-that-of-chinas-around-2024-un/articleshow/59257045.cms Updated June 21, 2017. Accessed January 24, 2019.
[4] NITI Aayog, Composite Water Management Index: A Tool for Water Management, p. 15. June 2018.
[5] NITI Aayog, Composite Water Management Index: A Tool for Water Management, p. 15. June 2018.
[6] NITI Aayog, Composite Water Management Index: A Tool for Water Management, p. 15. June 2018.
[7] NITI Aayog, Composite Water Management Index: A Tool for Water Management, p. 15. June 2018.
[8] NITI Aayog, Composite Water Management Index: A Tool for Water Management, p. 15. June 2018.
[9] Dhawan, Vibha. Water and Agriculture in India. Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. 2017.
[10] Siegel, Seth M. Let There Be Water, p 21. 2015 Thomas Dunne Books.
[11] Siegel, Seth M. Let There Be Water, p 21. 2015 Thomas Dunne Books.
[12] The World Factbook: Middle East: Israel. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/is.html. Updated January 22, 2019. Accessed January 27, 2019.
[13] The World Factbook: Middle East: West Bank. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/we.html. January 22, 2019.
[14] The World Factbook: Middle East: Gaza Strip. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html January 22, 2019. Accessed January 28, 2019
[15] Siegel, Seth M. Let There Be Water, p 252. 2015 Thomas Dunne Books.
[16] Siegel, Seth M. Let There Be Water, p 252. 2015 Thomas Dunne Books.
[17] The United Nations world water development report 2018: nature-based solutions for water; facts and figure, p. 2. UNESCO Digital Library. 2018.
[18] Skinner, Jamie. Where every drop counts: tackling rural Africa’s water crisis. International Institute for Environment and Development. http://pubs.iied.org/17055IIED. March 2009. Accessed December 27, 2018.

For more information about this, click here.

About Gospel for Asia

Clean Water

Humanitarian Services

Global Water Crisis Facts

Global Water Crisis Solutions

Water Crisis in India

Water Scarcity

Water Scarcity Facts

Water Shortage

What Is the Global Water Crisis

World Water Crisis

Previous Post

March 24, 2019

Evangelical Atheism: Evangelical in Word, Atheists at Heart

Next Post

March 29, 2019 People with Leprosy Are Not Cursed, Nor Unclean, They Are Loved

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category About Gospel for Asia Bishop Daniel Children's Education Clean Water Daniel Yohannan Disaster Relief GFA World Guest Writer Humanitarian Services Inspiration Leprosy Medical Ministry Mission Support Team Modern Slavery National Missions Poverty Alleviation Powerful Prayer School of Discipleship Special Report Spiritual Growth Uncategorized Women's Issues

Select a Month April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 September 2025 June 2025 May 2025 March 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group believes in "soul sleep" after death?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Methodists Seventh-day Adventists Baptists Orthodox