Articles about unsafe drinking water appear daily in the nation’s newspapers, on TV, and in magazines. Most of us want to believe the affected areas are far away. Here’s the truth: water safety and pollution are global issues.

The world’s drinking water is unsafe at every source! Worldwide, over a billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and estimates project this figure will increase to 2.3 billion by 2025. A staggering 3.4 million people die yearly from contaminated-water-related diseases and poisoning.

Many people respond to those statistics with, “That’s tragic, but it’s happening in India, right? And Africa? Our own water supply here in the US of A is safe—isn’t that so?”

Think again. Today I went online for information about contaminated water in the United States, and the search engine returned thousands of articles! Even when our water is chemically treated, ostensibly to make it safe to drink, it often passes through leaky, disintegrating water mains and pipes in our cities and homes. At any given moment a dangerous chemical, bacteria, or parasite could infiltrate our water supply.