But, we should spare a thought for those who walk not to get fit but do it to stay alive. Around 1.1 billion people live without clean water. And the average distance walked by women and children in Africa and Asia (what do the men do?) to get water for their families is six kilometres per day. Or, put another way, women in countries like Tanzania spend 3 hours a day walking to collect 40 litres of water. In some countries where it is very dry, the women and children can spend the whole day collecting water for their families.
40 litres a day feels like a lot but if this has to be shared amongst one family where there are extended family members living in the same household, there’s very little water to go round.
I was surprised to learn that water consumption per person in the Western world is several times greater than in the developing world. Here are some stats taken from the World Water Council, and these are per person per day:
350 litres - USA and Japan
200 litres – Europe
10-20 litres Sub-Saharan Africa
As well as walking to keep fit there is an awareness and fundraising initiative called Walking for Water. These special walks take place around World Water Day (22 March). School children aged 10-13 are sponsored by friends and family to walk 6 kilometres, while carrying 6 litres of water in a backpack. Pioneered in the Netherlands in 2003 by a Non Governmental Organisation – Aqua for All, 25,000 children from the Netherlands, South Africa, England, Scotland and Malta took part in the walk last year.
Whenever we think walking is too much trouble to stay fit so we’d rather take a bus or taxi, spare a thought for millions of people who walk just so they can stay alive. True, sparing a thought takes no effort and costs nothing, but it’ll help us appreciate what we sometimes take for granted – water.
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