Most rural Ethiopians walk up to four kilometres every day just to fetch water.  Even then they can’t be sure it’s safe to drink.  As a result, many people suffer from water-borne diseases and 15 percent of all deaths in Ethiopia are from diarrhoea, with the highest death rate among young children.

Diarrhoeal diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation, such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery, are common across the developing world - killing 5,000 children every single day.  People suffering from these diseases, or caring for children who are ill from them, are often unable to work to earn money, yet face large medical bills.

Carrying the heavy water containers back home is an exhausting task, which takes up valuable time and energy.  It often prevents women from doing vital domestic or income generating work and stops children from going to school. 

The Ethiopian Government has set itself the goal of ensuring that, by 2012, all people in rural parts of the country have access to 15 litres of water every day and that water sources are located only a short (under 1.5 kilometres) walk from their homes.  It may sound a modest target to people in the UK, but in Ethiopia there can be no doubt it's an ambitious one.

There is an urgent need for action, but all too often water and sanitation are overlooked in global development agenda, despite being consistently cited as top priorities by communities themselves.  Total global investments in water and sanitation would need to double for the Millennium Development Goal target, of halving the proportions of people living without water and sanitation by 2015, to be met.