WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by KP Yohannan, issued the second part of a Special Report update on the ongoing global water crisis, highlighting tap water safety problems in the USA, and clean water challenges in Asia.
While the U.S. Struggles with Contaminated Tap Water,
Millions in Asia Remain Without Access to Any Clean,
Safe Drinking Water
In Asia, when water is scarce and miles must be traversed in order to attain it, then carry or haul it, pure and clean community wells become nearly miraculous when they are engineered and maintained.
One organization helping with this situation is Gospel for Asia (GFA), which has installed more than 30,000 clean water borehole wells in villages across South Asia, including 4,856 in 2019 alone. Gospel for Asia (GFA) estimates that its clean water projects, consisting of wells in communities and BioSand water filters for families, are providing clean water to more than 37.5 million people to date. Yet the need is so great, much more has to be done.
This mother in South Asia needed almost ten pots of water each day for domestic purposes, so she walked a two-mile round trip several times a day to fetch water from the only well close to this village. After school, her sons helped her fetch water too. This well was the only source of water for the entire village of more than 200 people, until a Jesus Well was built within their town.
The Impact of a “Jesus Well” on One Community
This Jesus Well is in constant use, serving up to 300 people a day!
I love the story from the Gospel for Asia archives about the life-changing impact of the “Jesus Wells” they help provide. Jesus Wells are most often sponsored by donors and installed in communities where access to clean water is difficult or non-existent.
A group of villagers huddled around a large hole, peering into the darkness. Feathers. Again. They let out a groan—not in grief over the dead chicken, although it was a loss for someone’s flock, but because it meant their well was contaminated. They gathered buckets and emptied the well late into the night. All that precious water wasted because of one little hen.
This well and a small pond had the job of providing water for this village, but they frequently failed their task. In summertime, the well and pond dried up and had to be dug deeper. When the heavy rains came, water filled the pond again, but it was accompanied by leaves, garbage and cow manure. The families in this community needed water, but using dirty water exposed them to bouts of typhoid, diarrhea and other dangerous waterborne illnesses. Something had to change—but none of them could fix their deadly problem.
In Asia, when water is scarce, and miles must be traversed in order to attain it, then carry or haul it, pure and clean community wells become nearly miraculous when they are engineered and maintained.
The community’s water crisis began changing when Aarnav, one of the young men in the village, met a GFA-supported pastor, Saadhik, serving in a nearby area. Aarnav built a strong relationship with Pastor Saadhik and joined his congregation regularly to worship the Lord. Pastor Saadhik visited Aarnav’s family frequently to encourage them in the Lord. During one of those visits, the pastor learned of the village’s extreme need for water.
Although countless other communities in Aarnav’s nation face water shortages every year, Pastor Saadhik felt a special burden for Aarnav’s village. His compassion grew into a commitment to pray for the community’s need—for several years.
Seeing the need for safe, clean water, Gospel for Asia (GFA) installed three Jesus Wells to supply this village in Asia with pure water for drinking, cleaning and washing their hands.
After four years of faithful intercession, Pastor Saadhik’s prayers were answered. Thanks to the generosity of people around the world, GFA-supported workers arranged for Aarnav’s village to receive a Jesus Well at no cost to the community. Sitting atop enclosed pipes that dive deep into the low water table, the bore well now gushes clean water all year long.
Aarnav’s community finally has the change they needed! Overjoyed, around 100 people fetch their water from the Jesus Well instead of the compromised pond or open well. It doesn’t matter how many chickens or cows gather around the Jesus Well; nothing can contaminate their water anymore.
Let’s support organizations like Gospel for Asia (GFA) that are bringing thousands of bore wells that supply life-giving water to people—water that is available in little villages and crowded slum communities and not miles down some dusty or muddy road. What a gift clean water is, and what a gift to make it available to thirsty people worldwide.
Until a Jesus Well was installed in her village, this woman in South Asia often struggled to find safe, pure drinking water. Previously, she had to walk two kilometers round trip to the river near her village, to get unsafe, dirty water.
Jesus Compares Himself to Fountains of Water
Perhaps, even more remarkable, Christ used water (let us assume it was pure, clean and healthy water) as a metaphor for His own life-giving capability.
“Jesus answered and said to her: ‘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).
Even young children were happy to have a Jesus Well installed to get clean, safe water in their own village. Now they don’t have to walk to the distant well several times a day carrying heavy water pots.
Several summers back, my family attended the Iowa State Fair with my brother and his wife (who live in Des Moines). I’ve rarely bought tickets to popular music concerts—David and I are more the Chicago Symphony Orchestra types—but this summer, we did sit in the grandstands to hear a live concert featuring Carrie Underwood. Carrie, an avowed Christian, basically gave a gospel-music concert, with most of the people in the audience singing along to the lyrics they obviously knew by heart.
One of her songs that has stuck with me since that summer was “Something in the Water,” with water baptism being the theme:
No way out, no one to come and save me
Wasting a life that the Good Lord gave me
Then somebody said what I’m saying to you […]
They said, “Just a little faith, it’ll all get better”
So I followed that preacher man down to the river
And now I’m changed
And now I’m stronger
There must’ve been something in the water
Oh, there must’ve been something in the water
Yep, even the orchids know what kind of water they need and flourish when it is supplied. Humans are the same.
Yep, even the orchids know what kind of water they need and flourish when it is supplied. Humans are the same.
How wonderful that local churches all across Asia use clean water to meet physical need and employ the powerful life-giving metaphor for the One who supplies those He loves with everything they need spiritually. “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst . . .” Believe me, there are no toxins or poisons, no arsenic or radium in this spiritual gift.
There is no lead in this Living Water. This, indeed, is the water we all need to thrive.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by KP Yohannan, issued the first part of a Special Report update on the ongoing global water crisis, highlighting tap water safety problems in the USA, and clean water challenges in Asia.
In my original special report for Gospel for Asia (GFA) titled The Global Water Crisis, I explored worldwide solutions to humanity’s need for pure, safe water. This update explores tap water safety concerns in the United States and what to do about those, plus clean water solutions in Asia and practical ways you can help.
Like my orchids, people around the globe are affected adversely by the water they consume.
“The orchids are really doing well this year,” commented my husband, David, who usually doesn’t notice these sorts of things. Every year, I yield to temptation and purchase a few orchids in November around Thanksgiving time, hoping they will last through the Christmas season, maybe even longer. Greenhouses, I am told, cultivate orchids all year round.
Generally, I choose orchids with the most buds on them, calculating that there is some energy for growth hiding in these promises of future blooms. My scheme, however, generally degenerates in a wilting kind of reality. The bulbs dry up, turn to tissue-like paper and fall into the potting soil.
This year, however, I affirmed my husband’s comments with some surprise. Even in January, the orchids seemed still to be doing really well. The butterfly-like blooms were all strong, white and crisp. There was no browning around the edges nor had any died. I’d trimmed back some dried-up roots, but that wasn’t too different from previous years. What seemed to be making the difference was that I had changed the water I used to keep the plants fresh.
I had stopped using tap water and used bottles of distilled water instead. This idea was stimulated when I observed an older gentleman loading up the trunk of his car with at least 20 to 30 gallon-size bottles of water.
“You’re going to do more than just drink the water, I hope?” I said as I moved past him toward the grocery store.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “My wife is having trouble growing orchids, so we’re going to try distilled water for a while.”
“I have trouble growing orchids,” I called back. “Maybe I’ll pick up some bottles.”
Like my orchids, people around the globe are affected adversely by the water they consume. On one continent, dirty water pollutes whole communities. On another, tap water contaminates our kitchens.
Which, indeed, I did and have been using that to water my plants every week since, with the results that even my husband noticed and commented on how well the orchids were doing.
Distilled water, for those who don’t know, has been boiled in a vat, leaving impurities behind. This process removes harmful microbes (and also beneficial minerals such as calcium and magnesium). The steam eventually re-condenses, leaving a liquid behind that apparently helps my orchids thrive.
Most people will not deny this truism: Certain kinds of life thrive with certain kinds of water. Of course, this applies to human well-being as well as to plant health.
Like my orchids, people around the globe are affected adversely by the water they consume. On one continent, dirty water pollutes whole communities. On another, tap water contaminates our kitchens.
Photo left: Clean water from the local Jesus Well is used for drinking, cooking and hand washing, while water from other local wells is used for washing vessels, clothes or bathing. || Photo right: A mother in South Asia carries her son and a pail of fresh, clean drinking water form the local Jesus Well in town.
Despite the Safe Drinking Water Act,
3,000 Areas in the U.S. Have Lead-Contaminated Water
On August 6, 1996, President Clinton signed amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act to implement comprehensive public health protection from the source to the tap. Photo by US Environmental Protection Agency
To ensure water safety, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was originally passed by the U.S. Congress in 1974 to protect public health by establishing regulations about drinking water. According to a paper issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, “The law was amended in 1986 and 1996 and requires many actions to protect drinking water and its sources—rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and ground water wells. … SDWA authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against both naturally occurring and man-made contaminants that may be found in drinking water.”
Unfortunately, today, much of the water supply in the United States, despite the SDWA, is at risk. The Environmental Protection Agency urges that drinking water safety cannot be taken for granted: “There are a number of threats to drinking water: improperly disposed of chemicals, animal wastes, pesticides, human threats, wastes injected underground, and naturally occurring substances can all contaminate drinking water. Likewise, drinking water that is not properly treated or disinfected, or which travels through an improperly maintained distribution system, may also pose a health risk.”
Some 3,000 areas of the United States recently recorded
lead-poisoning rates at least double to those in Flint
during the peak of that city’s contamination crisis.
The most notable example of U.S. water source contamination, which captured the attention of much of the nation, was from Flint, Michigan, where analysis revealed that the town’s drinking water was lead-contaminated and was poisoning much of the citizenry of that community. However, even more shocking was the discovery that Reuters, the international news agency, reported: “Nearly 3,000 areas [of the country had] recently recorded lead-poisoning rates at least double those in Flint during the peak of that city’s contamination crisis. And more than 1,100 of these communities had a rate of elevated blood tests at least four times higher.”
Insightful pictures examining Flint’s drinking water pipes, showing different kinds of iron corrosion and rust. Photo by Min Tang and Kelsey Pieper
How does lead poison the human body? The World Health Organization (WHO) released a paper titled “Lead poisoning and health,” which listed the key facts:
Lead is a cumulative toxicant that affects multiple body systems and is particularly harmful to young children.
Lead in the body is distributed to the brain, liver, kidney and bones. It is stored in the teeth and bones, where it accumulates over time. Human exposure is usually assessed through the measurement of lead in blood.
Lead in bone is released into blood during pregnancy and becomes a source of exposure to the developing fetus.
There is no level of exposure to lead that is known to be without harmful effects.
Lead exposure is preventable.
The symptoms of lead poisoning are varied and alarming as WHO warns. These include behavioral changes because brain development is affected: reduced attention span, increased antisocial incidents and failing educational achievement. Anemia, hyperactivity, toxicity to the reproductive organs, blood-pressure-level impacts and renal impairment are some of the signs of lead exposure. Experts believe neurological and behavioral effects are irreversible.
Consequently, not only is the former statement a truism—certain kinds of life thrive with certain kinds of water—but we can logically agree with the experts that polluted water is not the optimum nutrient for mankind. Poisoned water creates life-diminishing conditions for most and particularly for the developing brains and neurological systems of the young.
A Jesus Well installed in South Asia has become a blessing for the local residents. Not many clean water wells are available in rural villages and people typically have to fetch water from sources far away or consume muddy water nearby.
Reasons for Unsafe Water Supplies in the United States
Effective lead‐and‐copper sampling plans allow water utilities to make critical corrosion‐control and water quality improvement decisions to protect public health. Photo by American Water Works Association
If there is no acceptable level of lead in drinking water, the question must be posed: Why are so many municipalities, homeowners and schools still finding lead in their systems today?
An article by Rachel Layne in MoneyWatch concludes: “One reason may be aging infrastructure and the cost to replace old water pipes and lead solder used in household plumbing. Drinking water is delivered via 1 million miles of pipes across the U.S., much of them laid in the early- to mid-20th century with a lifespan of 75 to 100 years.”
The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that those pipes are being replaced at an average rate of 0.5 percent a year.
“At that pace,” Layne notes, “it would take roughly two centuries to renew the whole system at a cost of around $1 trillion, according to one estimate by the American Water Works Association.”
That finding highlights “how six decades of industrial dumping, farming pollution and water plant and distribution pipe deterioration have taken a toll on local water systems.” According to this report, many local water-treatment plants are not equipped or can’t afford to strain out contaminants. In addition, much of the corroding water-distribution systems are susceptible to lead contamination, leaks in the lines, and consequent bacterial growth due to the instability of this aging infrastructure.
What Can One Concerned Citizen Do?
So, what is to be done? At this point, it behooves a water-drinking citizenry to act responsibly.
My husband and I live in an unincorporated area of a western Chicago suburb, and we have lived here for more than 40 years. Our water is pumped from our own well, which I have assumed to be “safe” water. However, after research conducted for this article, I realized I was relying too much on what might turn out to be unfounded assumptions, so I ordered a complete water-testing kit. When the kit comes, we can test our own water from the tap to determine what minerals exist in this liquid and whether or not there are contaminants. Then we will make plans—perhaps to install filters on certain faucets. If needed, that will require additional Internet research.
A citizen, concerned about his or her municipality’s water supply, can look up reports online as to the status of local sources. The mayor’s office of our little town of 27,000 has published a comprehensive “state of the water” report, which was mailed to all the addresses in our community; that report is also published on the Internet and identifies any possible trouble spots or any deep water reservoirs that may be problematic. If there are problems with our local water supply, then I have at least informed myself as to their existence. Our mayor also invites citizens who have questions, concerns or suggestions to meet with him once a month; questions about the safety of water supplies can be brought up in such a forum.
The point of this is:
Do not remain ignorant about your community’s water supplies, which most of us drink so casually without considering the quality of its content. (Remember my orchids.)
In Waukesha, Wisconsin, 18 miles west of Milwaukee, decades of radium contamination from the city’s underground aquifer prompted officials to draft a proposal to draw water from Lake Michigan for its 71,000 residents. The Great Water Alliance, a $200-million project, is expected to be completed by 2023.
Thousands of rural towns have the most problems because communities often lack the expertise and resources to provide safe drinking water.
In several Southwestern states, 2 million people received groundwater tainted with arsenic, radium or fluoride from their local water systems, with many exposed to these chemicals for years before hundreds of small, low-income communities could afford to filter them out. Some still haven’t cleaned up their water.
Ever wondered what’s causing those puzzling health problems—headaches, stomach troubles, your kids’ irascibility and/or inability to pay attention in class? Maybe there’s something in the water. Check it out.
Healthy water—clear, clean and pure—is one of the great gifts of the Creator to the inhabitants of earth. However, as part of our God-given mandate as caretakers of this remarkable planet, we need to be responsible to guard our water sources, its supply and delivery systems, and to not take for granted what pumps from our wells or flows from our kitchen taps. We have all too often—I certainly am a guilty party—been sloppy stewards of our creation.
Despite the safe water, we assume, we are drinking, we need to be responsible and check out municipal reports or order water-testing kits to make sure. The Environmental Protection Agency has a paper online titled “Ground Water Rule: A Quick Reference Guide” (it’s a dense and comprehensive two pages of analytics, but helpful). If you feel better after changing the water you’ve been drinking, then drink more of the new supply. Health gurus insist that hydrating our bodies is a key principle to achieving better health and more productive daily function.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide – Published a new report for World Water Day saying two-thirds of planet may face crisis shortages by 2025, 30 million in U.S. lack safe water.
The world is on the brink of a devastating water crisis that could be “much more worrying” than the COVID-19 pandemic, says a disturbing report.
“Two-thirds of the world’s people could face water shortages by 2025,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA World) that has clean water projects across Asia. “It’s been described as ‘the biggest crisis no one is talking about.'”
Several megacities are on the verge of “running out of drinking water,” says the report, titled Water Stress: The Unspoken Global Crisis, as World Water Day — an annual awareness event — spotlights the rising global threat.
Global agencies UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) place Mexico and nine African and Asian countries in the “top 10” nations with the “worst drinking water.” In the African country of Uganda, 40 percent of the population has to trek 30 minutes or more to find safe drinking water, says the report.
Two Billion Drink From ‘Feces-Contaminated’ Sources
Organizations like Gospel for Asia (GFA World) and World Vision have made clean water a top priority. Gospel for Asia (GFA World) drills about 4,000 new community wells — called “Jesus Wells” — every year, providing safe drinking water for entire villages. Over the past two decades, we have drilled more than 30,000 wells and distributed more than 58,000 home kits, called BioSand filters, that remove 98 percent of water impurities.
“Our goal is to bring people life-giving clean water,” Yohannan says, “and also to show people that we care about their most vital needs, such as water, because God loves them and values them.”
U.S.: 30 Million ‘Without Safe Water’
Americans are not exempt from the worldwide water crisis, with more than two million people in the U.S. without access to running water, and 30 million Americans lacking “safe” drinking water, according to the report.
School officials in Ohio and Pennsylvania announced last year they had found legionella — the bacteria that can cause Legionnaires’ disease — in their local water supplies. Some Texas residents were scooping water out of swimming pools after their taps ran dry following the state’s “Big Freeze” this past winter.
GFA World (Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially to those who have yet to hear about the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.
Cleaning up water is only part of the solution to the global water crisis. The main part will be finding additional water sources, which is where advancements in desalination (also known as desalinization) offer encouragement. According to one report, desalination capacity is expected to double between 2016 and 2030.
One Columbia University team achieved a zero-liquid discharge without boiling the water off—a major advance in modern desalination technology. Photo by Chenyu Guan
Last June, Columbia University announced engineering researchers have been refining desalination through a process known as temperature swing solvent extraction (TSSE). The school says TSSE is radically different from conventional methods because it does not use membranes to refine water. In a paper for Environmental Science & Technology, the team reported their method enabled them to attain energy-efficient, zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) of these brines.
“Zero-liquid discharge is the last frontier of desalination,” said Ngai Yin Yip, an assistant professor of earth and environmental engineering who led the study. While evaporating and condensing the water is the current practice for ZLD, it’s very energy intensive and prohibitively costly. The Columbia University team was able to achieve ZLD without boiling the water off—a major advance in desalination technology.
Among other advances is work by a research group at Spain’s University of Alicante, which has developed a stand-alone system for desalination that is powered by solar energy. A second solar-powered system developed by researchers in China and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was announced in February 2020.
Without clean water, youngsters worldwide are susceptible to many waterborne diseases, which prevent them from attending school and can thereby keep them trapped in a persistent cycle of poverty.
There is also commercial potential, as shown by 11 plants operating in California, with 10 more proposed. One in suburban San Diego turns 100 million gallons of seawater into 50 million gallons of fresh water daily, which it pipes to various municipalities. While it costs twice as much as other sources, the water resources manager for the San Diego County Water Authority says it’s worth it.
“Drought is a recurring condition here in California,” said Jeremy Crutchfield, Water Resources Manager at the San Diego County Water Authority. “We just came out of a five-year drought in 2017. The plant has reduced our reliance on imported supplies, which is challenging at times here in California. So it’s a component for reliability.”
This mother and child are both enjoying a refreshing splash of the clean drinking water provided through a Jesus Well. Before these wells were built, women and children from the village walked miles back and forth to fetch water, which was most often contaminated. Now their villages enjoy the relief and love that these Jesus Well brings. The fresh, clean water is available to the villagers year-round, right in the middle of town, saving them time, and concerns about waterborne diseases.
Micro Solutions to the Global Water Stress Crisis
3.4 million people die every year from waterborne diseases caused by contaminated, dirty water. A simple BioSand water filter can change that, providing water that is 98% pure after filtration.
For every macro problem there are also micro solutions. In addition to the United Nations, there are numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and charities fighting for clean water, like water.org, the nonprofit founded by actor Matt Damon and Gary White. Faith-based World Vision is one of the largest NGOs and provides clean water in addition to its child sponsorship and disaster relief work.
Another active NGO is Gospel for Asia (GFA World), which initiated water well drilling projects in 2000 after the Lord put a burden on a donor’s heart about the need for clean water. He contacted the ministry to ask if it would allow wells to be built near churches led by Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastors—and sponsored the first 10, known as Jesus Wells. Drilled 300 feet (91 meters) or deeper into the earth, these wells often provide clean water for 300 or more people per day.
BioSand water filters are bringing joy to families in South Asia! Many people in this area have to drink dirty water out of stagnant ponds, for lack of access to clean water sources, so after receiving a water filter like this one, their family can now drink clean, tasty water instead.
The blessings such help provides can be seen through a number of individual stories. In one of the first villages where a Jesus Well was installed, residents used to drink from a pond also used for bathing, irrigation and cooking. Summer droughts often eva
porated the dirty pond water; a well near the village went from providing clean water to a brownish substance in a matter of months and was later abandoned.
Now, the clean well has become part of the community’s fabric. Says a GFA pastor whose church is next to the well: “I feel very happy to know that this is one of the first Jesus Wells. It’s not easy to have a well maintained for this many years; because anybody can install a well, but maintaining it for almost [20] years, where it still gives clean and good drinking water, it is not easy. That makes me very proud and happy.”
Founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA), K.P. Yohannan, says the faith-based NGO is helping thousands of needy families, especially children. Without clean water, he says youngsters are susceptible to many diseases, which prevent them from attending school and can thereby keep them trapped in a cycle of poverty.
Dr. K.P. Yohannan, GFA World Founder
“We attack the water crisis globally by installation of wells in a village or BioSand filters in homes,” Yohannan says. “We did a study in our medical camps and found the No. 1 issue for children in South Asia was either diarrhea or upper respiratory infections. Our ultimate goal to give kids an education so they can get a better job is compromised if they’re sick.”
Waterborne diseases causing stress, sickness, and even death can be addressed and resolved with proper solutions, like BioSand water filters and fresh-water wells.
Or, consider giving toward the $1,400 average cost to install a Jesus Well for an entire community. Jesus Wells can serve 300 or more people with safe, clean drinking water for 10-20 years.
Either solution is a simple and effective way to take part in helping reduce water stress in this world and provide micro solutions to the global water crisis for people in need of clean, safe drinking water.
GFA World (Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially to those who have yet to hear about the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this 1st part of a Special Report update on the unspoken global crisis — Water Stress; where nations worldwide, both rich and poor, are struggling to find safe drinking water for their populations.
Water problems are often big news, whether it’s ongoing crises in American locales like Flint, Michigan or Newark, New Jersey; in 11 cities across the world forecasting as most likely to run out of drinking water; or the widespread concern that two-thirds of the world will face shortages by 2025.
And yet, “water stress is the biggest crisis no one is talking about,” says Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute. “Its consequences are in plain sight in the form of food insecurity, conflict and migration, and financial instability.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says an estimated 801,000 children younger than 5 perish from diarrhea annually, mostly in developing countries.
Not only is safe, readily available water important for public health, WHO says improved water supply, sanitation and better management of resources “can boost countries’ economic growth and can contribute greatly to poverty reduction.”
Still, nearly 50 years after the U.S. adopted the Clean Water Act (regulating surface water quality standards and discharge of pollutants into water) and close to 30 years after the United Nations started observing World Water Day (Mar. 22), getting clean water to everyone remains a monumental challenge.
Last September, an investigation into a 6-year-old boy’s death led to detection of a brain-eating amoeba in the water supply of Lake Jackson, Texas, an hour south of Houston.
But it isn’t just the U.S. struggling to provide an adequate supply. Two years ago, BBC News chronicled 11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water. Topping the list was Cape Town, South Africa, which the BBC said was “in the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern era to face the threat of running out of drinking water.”
Cape Town has thus far avoided that fate by instituting usage restrictions, but that city and 10 others continue to face a water shortage:
In two previous special reports for Gospel for Asia entitled “Dying of Thirst: The Global Water Crisis,” and “Solving the World Water Crisis … for Good,” we unpacked the global quest for access to safe, clean water, and how lasting solutions can defeat this age-old problem. This article highlights continuing water stress problems worldwide, and various solutions that are emerging to deal with a crisis issue that is too often underdiscussed.
Pandemic Problems to Make Global Water Crisis Worse
As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, the pandemic of 2020 exacerbated conditions. In a forecast just prior to last year’s World Water Day, the UN said, “A continuing shortfall in water infrastructure investments from national governments and the private sector has left billions exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Ensuing developments justified the warning. Soon after, grocery stores in central California took to rationing bottled water to deal with the pandemic’s effects that posed serious health risks for residents in rural farmworker communities, where tap water is often fouled by agricultural pollution.
Water stress presents formidable challenges to many people in Asia and Africa, like this young boy in Africa, needing to take a drink from this mirky pond. Photo by Frederick Dharshie, CIWEM, Environmental Photographer of the Year Gallery
In long-plagued Flint last summer, 55-year-old Cynthia Shepherd told The Detroit News that, coupled with the extended water crisis there, the pandemic was making it “tough.” “I’ve known a few people who have died, and it’s scary,” says Shepherd.
Soon after reopening for the 2020-21 school year, school officials in five Ohio towns announced they had found legionella—the bacteria that can cause a serious type of pneumonia called Legionnaires’ disease—in their water supplies. So did four districts in Pennsylvania. Ironically, precautions taken to prevent infection risks could have added to the problem.
“Stagnant water in unused drinking fountains or sink plumbing could be a good reservoir in which the bacteria could grow,” wrote New York Times reporter Max Horberry. “And shower heads like those found in locker rooms are common places for Legionella to proliferate.”
“It will be an even more daunting task, in both developed and developing countries, to regain the trust of their people that water they are receiving is safe to drink and for personal hygiene because of extensive past mismanagement in most areas of the world,” the publication observed.
African child drinking polluted dirty water from a pond in his neighborhood. Photo by Mzilikazi wa Afrika
In an article for GeoJournal, Professor Albert Boretti noted that technological improvements that helped deal with increased demand for water, food and energy since 1950 were not enough to avoid a water crisis. Not only have worldwide coronavirus cases (as of Aug. 4, 2020) surpassed 18.4 million and fatalities reached almost 700,000, containment measures aimed at limiting infections damaged the world economy, he said.
“This will limit social expenditures in general, and the expenditures for the water issue in particular,” Boretti said. “The water crisis will consequently become worse in the next months, with consequences still difficult to predict. This will be true especially for Africa, where the main problem has always been poverty. … More poverty will translate in a lack of food and water, potentially much more worrying than the virus spreading.”
Baseline water stress measures the ratio of total water withdrawals to available renewable surface and groundwater supplies. Higher values indicate more competition among users. Photo credit: World Resources Institute, Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas (CC BY 4.0) • Data Source: WRI Aqueduct 2019
Singapore Water Crisis Solutions
When it comes to cleaning up water, the Asian city-state of Singapore is a success story. For more than a century after the British settled there in 1819, the Singapore River was the focus of global and regional trade. That also brought pollution associated with commercial activity, such as industries, squatter colonies and food vendors dumping garbage, sewage and industrial waste into the river.
Ariel view of the clean Singapore river near Clark Quay in the central area of Singapore. Photo by Amos Lee
For more than a century, various commissions proposed alternatives for improving navigation and solving pollution, including a 1950s report suggesting improvements costing $30 million. For various reasons, it was never implemented, say the authors of an academic paper on the history of the clean-up.
However, in the 1960s, the prime minister set in motion a plan that included a call for water and drainage engineers in two departments to work together to resolve environmental problems. Polluters were told to move, families relocated to high-rise public housing, and a series of other steps were taken that cost $300 million.
“When the costs of the rivers cleaning programme are compared with the benefits, it is clear that it was an excellent investment,” said lead author Cecilia Tortajada. “The river cleaning programme had numerous direct and indirect benefits, since it unleashed many development- related activities which transformed the face of Singapore and enhanced its image as a model city in terms of urban planning and development. Most important, however, was that the population achieved better quality of life.”
GFA World (Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially to those who have yet to hear about the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada – Faith-based agency has drilled more than 30,000 ‘Jesus Wells,’ distributed 58,000-plus water filtersA leading mission agency revealed it has provided safe drinking water for a staggering 37.5 million people in Asia, the world’s “thirstiest” continent.The number of people helped by Texas-based Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is roughly equivalent to the entire population of California.
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) reported millions of water-deprived families across Asia — home to six out of every 10 people on the planet — now have safe, reliable drinking water thanks to the organization’s deep wells and BioSand filters.
In the past two decades, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) and its partners around the world have provided more than 30,000 wells and 58,000 filters.
In 2019 alone, the faith-based organization — manned entirely by local workers, many traveling from village to village on foot — helped drill 4,856 new “Jesus Wells” and distribute 12,243 new water filters in communities, many of which were stricken by waterborne diseases.
The report comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) says one in every three people in the world doesn’t have access to safe drinking water, and the United Nations predicts that by the year 2050 up to 5.7 billion people worldwide could be affected by water shortages.
Finding safe drinking water is not just a problem in Asia. In the U.S., as many as 63 million people — nearly one in every five Americans — have been exposed to potentially unsafe drinking water, GFA World’s report says, citing lead and arsenic contamination.
Demand for Water to Skyrocket
In the next 20 years, global demand for water is expected to surge by more than 50 percent, according to the U.N.
“This desperate situation is especially acute in Asia, where millions of families get their drinking water from the only source available to them — often a dirty river or stagnant pond, which are breeding grounds for parasites and deadly bacteria,” Yohannan said.
Drinking contaminated water can lead to fatal diseases such as typhoid, hepatitis A, and diarrhea. Globally, diarrhea kills almost 2,200 children every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
By providing safe water, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) hopes people who’ve never heard about God’s love will see “love in action.”
In one community, the local pastor began praying for a new well when the old village water source dried up, forcing villagers to trek every day to the river. Days later, a team arrived to drill a new Jesus Well. Although skeptical at first, locals soon realized the new well was heaven-sent, the report says.
Going Deep, Finding Lasting Solutions
Beginning with the first well in the year 2000, Jesus Wells — up to 1,500 feet in depth — tap deep underground reserves and bring year-round, clean water to thousands of villages across Asia, each well supplying hundreds of people on average and providing a central community gathering place.
Because local people receive training to maintain the wells, the water keeps flowing. One team recently found a Jesus Well still going strong after 20 years.
Meanwhile, portable BioSand filters — another clean-water solution, costing around $30 each — remove most contaminants, making water 98 percent pure.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) is a leading faith-based mission agency, bringing vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially to those who have yet to hear the “good news” of Jesus Christ. In GFA’s latest yearly report, this included more than 70,000 sponsored children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,000 clean water wells drilled, over 11,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 200,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada – Discussing Sabar and his village, the daily reality of unclean drinking water that far too many experience, and the Gospel for Asia Jesus Well that restored life and health.
Imagine for just a moment: The water that flows through your filtered refrigerator to your glass of ice or that pours from your sink faucet to the cooking pan is gone.
Instead, you heft a bucket in each hand and walk to the closest river, which is 300 meters (0.19 miles) away. When you return home with the heavy buckets, you finally take a deep drink to quench your thirst. You know the water you just drank could also contain disease-causing bacteria. But is there any other option?
For far too many, like 60-year-old Sabar, the answer is no. Drinking unclean water is a daily reality.
Struggle for Clean Water
A Jesus Well like this one proved to be life-changing for Sabar and his village.
Every day, Sabar trekked to the river to collect his water supply. Unfortunately, the water was not safe for consumption. Sabar often fell sick and his overall health suffered. But there was no other source of water for his village, so he continued to use the unfiltered river water.
One day, as Sabar made his way to the river, he met Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers Jamir and Vazir. They greeted him kindly and talked with him about how Jesus can provide for all his needs.
Naturally, Sabar thought of his village’s need for clean water. After all, he wasn’t the only one who suffered from the unclean water.
“If your Jesus will provide our needs, it will be very helpful to us,” Sabar told Jamir and Vazir.
Jesus Wells provide communities with clean water, safe for cooking and drinking. They play a vital role in helping prevent disease caused by water contamination.
Soon the well in Sabar’s village was complete and ready for use. Now, instead of walking to the river every day, Sabar has a well near his home. The water is pure, and Sabar no longer suffers from the effects of drinking the contaminated river water. His health has greatly improved, and the well has been a blessing for the entire village.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Bakul and his family, the debilitating effects of drinking impure water, waterborne diseases, and the Gospel for Asia Water Filter that changed lives.
For years, Bakul and his family faced the debilitating effects of drinking impure water. Stomachaches, diarrhea, weakness, coughs and colds haunted them with every glass they drank. “I would take medicine for my stomach pain,” Bakul shares. “However, in spite of continuous treatment, I continued to struggle from unbearable pain in my stomach.”
Chance Encounter Changes Lives
A Gospel for Asia pastor named Thorley served in Bakul’s village, but Bakul didn’t know much about him. One day, however, as Bakul passed by the church, he saw a large crowd: The pastor was passing out BioSand water filters to several people in the village.
“I asked Pastor Thorley to give me a water filter, and to my surprise, he gave me a filter,” Bakul shares. “Now nobody is suffering from stomach problems in my family.”
Bakul, having witnessed the kindness and generosity of Christians, has become curious to learn more about Jesus Christ. What’s more, Bakul is able to interact with Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers when they visit to perform routine maintenance on his filter.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing the struggles many experience with having no access to clean water, the waterborne diseases they are exposed to, and the Gospel for Asia Pastor that brought a Jesus Well to his village.
M
orning came early for the villagers. They trudged down a dusty path as the heat began to rise with the sun, dawning a new day. The morning light exposed strange yellow and red stains inside the pots they carried by hand, or had lifted above their shoulders or they placed atop their heads. Those stains revealed an immense struggle in the villagers’ daily lives.
The families in Pastor Sahay’s village, struggled to find good water, like these women. The pumps in their village brought forth dirty water and caused them to have health issues.
Muddy Water Leaves Marks on Vessels and Stomachs
The water in the village was not safe to drink. Hand pumps installed years prior gushed forth muddy, red-colored water. It was obvious this was the culprit to the stains inside the water pots. But it wasn’t just the villagers’ vessels that bore the mark of the undrinkable liquid; their continual stomachaches and kidney problems made the statement loud and clear. If they wanted clean water to drink, they had to wake early to search for it outside their village.
Pastor Brought a Jesus Well that Impacted a Village
Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor Sahay served in this village. He and his congregation distributed food once a month to the slum nearby. This impacted the community greatly, and many saw the love of Jesus through their simple acts of kindness. Pouring his life out faithfully unto the Lord, Pastor Sahay tried to help the community as much as he could. He was not unaware of the urgent and crucial need for clean water. Because someone gave to Gospel for Asia (GFA) to help provide clean water for people in Asia, Pastor Sahay could take action; he introduced a Jesus Well to the village he loved so well.
After the Jesus Well in Pastor Sahay’s village was completed (pictured), it was dedicated to the Lord. This well pours out clean water freely to those who come to it for a drink.
The Jesus Well was placed in a convenient spot: right by the road, in a public area where anyone could acquire clean water. The Jesus Well was also right by a school, hospital, auto shop and the local market. A man named Tunava who ran a small food stand close by the well said, “I used to bring water from far away to wash the vessels and for the customers…now, I can get pure drinking water at any time, and it’s very close to my shop.”
Today, around 200 people drink refreshing, pure water from this well every day and are able to read God’s Word inscribed on the well’s plaque that speaks about the Living Water offered freely to all, taken from the passage found in John 4:13–14.
A local woman pumps water for her daily use from the new well on the day it was dedicated. Her family is no longer threatened by waterborne illness that had been impacting her community.
Jesus Well Stands as a Beacon of Hope to Community
Because of this act of kindness, many hearts have been touched, and families have desired to hear more about the love of Jesus. This opened doors for Pastor Sahay and his congregation to display more of the hope of Christ to those around them and share about the God who offers living water for their souls. The village chief was very grateful to Pastor Sahay and said, “I could not help my villagers by providing them with a hand pump. But thanks [to the church] for providing a Jesus Well for my community.”
A local man in the village was very touched by the gift of the Jesus Well and expressed his thanks saying, “I appreciate the work of the church for the community. These days, no one thinks of others, but the work the church is doing is really appreciable.”
This village now has a tangible reflection of the Living Water that Jesus offers every time they pump the clean, fresh water from the Jesus Well. No longer do they have to fear waterborne illnesses when they take a glass of its water. They’ve also had the opportunity to learn about God’s tremendous love. You can be part of giving hope in buckets of water by giving a Jesus Well today.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Gafur and his wife, Dishita, the isolation they experienced due to their faith in Jesus, the struggle of walking 4 miles daily to fetch clean water, and Gospel for Asia (GFA) providing Jesus Wells to these communities in need.
Discussing Gafur & Dishita, the struggle of walking 4 miles daily to fetch clean water, & Gospel for Asia (GFA) providing Jesus Wells to communities in need
What would you do if the people in your community forbid you from using the local water to drink, take showers or wash your clothes? You would have to immediately find another water source for your family and livestock to survive.
This happened to Gafur and his wife, Dishita, a couple living in Asia. One of their sons was seriously ill when they requested a visiting pastor to pray for him. God answered in a wonderful way and healed the boy completely. This miracle led the boy’s grateful parents to put their trust in Jesus! However, as the family started to take part in church activities, the villagers opposed them and the other believers.
The villagers stopped talking to them, didn’t invite them to any social functions and no longer allowed them to draw water from any source in their community.
The believers then had no choice but to walk two miles—one way—to a hand pump installed on government premises and carry water back to their homes in large pots every single day.
Walking 4 miles every day
for 7 years adds up to 10,220 miles.
Imagine how many trips Dishita and her family had to make over the next seven years to fetch enough water for drinking, taking baths, cooking and washing dishes and clothes for their seven-member household!
Yet in spite of all these hardships, Gafur, Dishita and the believers in this village remained faithful to the Lord and trusted Him to meet their needs.
A Jesus Well like this one now provides clean water for Gafur, Dishita and their whole village.
And He did! In January of 2016, thanks to the generosity of our Gospel for Asia (GFA) family, a Jesus Well was drilled in this village for the Christians and all the other people in their community to use. When the believers freely shared their clean water with the villagers, the people’s attitude changed. Now the villagers talk with the believers and are interested in hearing about the love of God. Some even ask for prayer and visit house prayer meetings.
The struggle for access to clean water this group of Christians faced is shared by millions of poor people. Often because of extreme poverty, discrimination or drought, their only water sources are polluted, stagnant ponds. They have no other option but to use that filthy, disease-ridden water for drinking and every other human need, as well as for watering and cleaning their livestock. Consequently, people suffer much sickness, and tragically, many children die as a result.
We can change the suffering of such a community in need by providing them with a Jesus Well. Or you can help a family by giving a BioSand water filter, which turns polluted water into clean, safe drinking water.
This plaque by a Jesus Well displays John 4:13-14.
Both are truly life-saving gifts that remind people of the love and care of their heavenly Father. Jesus Wells even have an inscription that says, “Jesus said, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst’ ” (John 4:13–14).
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
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