英语作文：水对生物的重要性

The Right to Water
April 29, 2008

Improving Access, Combating Disease and Mitigating Conflict

Water is essential for life, good health and economic development. Yet more than 1.1 billion people — about one in every five — lack access to clean, safe drinking water, or are embroiled in conflicts over its availability. Diseases caused by dirty water are responsible for 4,500 deaths each day of children under five. This global public health crisis hinders the ability to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth.

The UN Millennium Development Goals call for reducing by half the number of people without access to clean water by 2015. Mercy Corps contributes to this end by offering solutions that include piping drinking water to rural communities, building wells and ensuring that people have access to drinking water in the aftermath of devastating emergencies. The agency also helps communities solve resource-based conflicts over water in our long-te