Introduction

Water is one of the essential requirements for life. All living things need water for their survival. Water is used for a variety of purposes, including drinking, food preparation, irrigation and manufacturing. Although water covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, less than 1% of that resource is available as fresh water – and this is not evenly distributed throughout the world. More than one billion people (one thousand million) worldwide, mostly in developing countries, lack safe drinking water. Apart from the scarcity of water, there are many other challenges in providing a safe, adequate and reliable water supply in many parts of the world.

In this study session, you will learn about the different uses of water, how water gets to the inhabitants of towns and the challenges faced in delivering water to people.