3rd world water

[dannyday5821]

i saw an advert on tv that said loads of people in poor countries die from lack of clean water. now i get that... but i was drunk, and had a random thought.

how the hell did all the humans in all the other countries in the rest of the world ever manage to develop without a safe water source? like, medevil times. how would a village ever start? simple - look for a water source. a river. and they didnt have huge water treatment works - they thrieved, and hundreds of years later, they end up as towns or cities today.

so... whats the problem or difference with a 3rd world country? i dont mean to be heartless or cruel - but why cant they build their own wells?

is the main difference between somewhere like england, and afica, as simple as the climate? the insane heat in africa compared to the cold in england?

so it doesnt rain much, if at all, in a 3rd world country... but whats the difference between us going over and building a well, and them building their own well?

i dont get it. since ive been a kid, ive heard time and time again that all those kids are dying from lack of clean water from the adverts on tv - and all that time, as always, the ONLY way to solve the problem, is to pay money to a charity and get them to do it for them?

whatever happened to... give them a net, and they catch their own fish???
but even then... back in those medievil villages... they made their own nets...

so whats the deal?

[dzug2]

In the middle ages they used to die just like people in poor countries these days.

[dannyday5821]

yeah... accept they survived long enough to turn those villages into towns and cities... not shanty towns...

[pink-kittens]

Just wondering where, in the middle of the desert you'd fin the right tools ot make a net?

It's all about resources. If you haven't got resources you can't make a net. If you live in a country where rain doesn't fall like it does here then you have to drink what water you find

[jake-the-peg]

There are a number of reasons - climate change is one, desert is advancing in some areas at an alarming rate - we dont see the effects of climate change so much in the UK but the Saraha for example is expanding south at something like 6 miles a year.

There are also population pressures - there are a lot more people competing for the water.

In some areas there are development pressures etc.

Some countries like Saudi used to rely on "fossil" water laid down thousands of years ago in the ground which is running out.

The issue about well building I guess is expertise - if your village had a well for 100 years and it dries up do you know how to build a well?

It's not just a case of digging a hole - where do you dig it? is the water safe? how do you get the water out? how do you stop it collapsing in on itself.

try here:

http://www.wateraid.o...hat_we_do/default.asp

[Old_Geezer]

I suspect some folk had ancestors who understood they were in an area where resource was limited, and can to sense to wander further around the globe to find somewhere better to settle. Others had ancestors who felt the limited resources were enough, and they wouldn't move on.

So now some are born into areas which doesn't do well supplying necessary water and food to those trying to survive there, while the others have found themselves born into a land which gives them a better life.

If wells and suchlike are not already in place it is down to the difficulty creating such things in these areas. The needs for better technology etc. to achieve it. And I do wonder if they create the wells, what occurs when the water has been taken. If the existing rainfall is insufficient to replenish the demand, maybe it is a temporary reprieve ?

[dzug2]

<<not shanty towns>>

Large parts of mediaeval villages and towns would be regarded as shanty towns these days. The 'buildings' are long gone

[heathfield]

Byzantine Emperor Justinian wanted the Roman general Belsarius to form an army, and asked what sort of men he would need. ''Men who can eat rotten meat, drink green water, march forty miles, then fight a battle'' was Belsarius' reply. Fom his military successes, it would seem such people were around in those days.

[spudqueen]

In th'olden days not many people drank water. They drank beer, even children, though it was weak, and wouldn't taste like modern beer. Scroll down to Medieval Europe on here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_beer

[keenonhist]

Ever since I was a child we have been asked by the scool or church to give money to help the poor in third world contries,thougth in my time there was no third world as we know it now. They have always,as far as I can see,held out their hands for money. And so long as they continue to do so they will never off their back sides,stop producing babies and shed their mind buttoning religous views and start learning for them selves nothing will change.
keenonhist

[sith123]

the enviroment plays a huge role as well

[keenonhist]

Hi sith123.
I know that the enviroment plays a role.But they have been living in their "enviroment" for ever,surely some where along the line of their time line some one could have took a look around and thought...."we could do better"
keenonhist