1. Access to Water and Water Relay Race

2. Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water.
Source: Human Development Report 2006
Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis
Picture Source:

3. Women carrying water vessels, Guatemala
Women carrying water vessels, Guatemala. Photo by André Abbe, UNESCO Source: UN Water Gender, Water and Sanitation: A Policy Brief
In most societies, women have primary responsibility for management of household water supply, sanitation and health. Water is necessary not only for drinking, but also for food production and preparation, care of domestic animals, personal hygiene, care of the sick, cleaning, washing and waste disposal. Because of their dependence on water resources, women have accumulated considerable knowledge about water resources, including location, quality and storage methods.
Source: UN Water Gender, Water and Sanitation: A Policy Brief

4. Young Girls Carry Water
Iman is carrying a tagdurt, a metal water container, on her way to the nearest well to draw water. No one in Tata has running water at home. by Erin Olson Tata-Tagmoute, Morocco (1999)
In Morocco the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project of the World Bank aimed to reduce the “burden of girls who were traditionally involved in fetching water” in order to improve their school attendance. In the six provinces where the project is based, it was found that girls’ school attendance increased by 20 per cent in four years, attributed in part to the fact that girls spent less time fetching water. At the same time, convenient access to safe water reduced time spent collecting water by women and young girls by 50 to 90 percent.
Source: UN Water Gender, Water and Sanitation: A Policy Brief
Picture Source:

5. Gender Inequity
In rural Benin girls ages 6–14 spend an average of one hour a day collecting water compared with 25 minutes for their brothers.
In Malawi there are large variations in the amount of time allocated for water collection based on seasonal factors, but women consistently spend four to five times longer than men on this task.
Human Development Report 2006
Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis

6. Time spent collecting water (minutes per day)
Benin, 1998
Ghana, 1998/99
Women
Men
Urban 16 6 33 31
Rural 62 44 34
National 45 12 41
Gulnea, 2002/03
Madagascar, 2001
Women
Men
Urban 10 3 16
Rural 28 6 32 8
National 23 5 27 9
Source: Wodon and Blackden 2006 as sited in:
Human Development Report 2006
Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis

7. A Heavy Load
On average, women and girls walk a distance of six kilometers each day, carrying 20 liters of water.
6 km = mi
20 liters of water = 44 pounds
Source: UN Water: Water for Life Decade

8. How much water do you use a day?
The average American uses gallons of water per day.
gallons of water = pounds
gallons of water = liters
Online Water Usage Calculators:
USGS
Water Footprint
Source: USGS Water Science for Schools

9. Water Relay Race Supplies Directions Determining a winner
Buckets, water, hand towels
Directions
Move to a large open space
Mark a distance of ten yards
Divide into teams of three or four
One person on each team should fill a bucket with water and place it on the towel on their head.
The team members with the buckets will race to the ten yard mark and back to their group handing the bucket to the next person.
The second group member races to the ten yard mark and back, handing off the bucket. This process is repeated until all group members have raced.
Determining a winner
Take into account the first group done and the amount of water left in the bucket.

10. Sources
UN Water Gender, Water and Sanitation: A Policy Brief
Human Development Report 2006 Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis
Photo Source (slides 2 and 4)
UN Water: Water for Life Decade
USGS Water Science for Schools

11. PowerPoint developed by Mary Robinson Ag Ed Graduate Student University of Minnesota