Opportunity Card

Every Drop Counts

Water is one of our most valuable resources. Design a solution that helps your community protect, conserve, or improve access to clean water.

1 in 4people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water

4 billionpeople experience severe water scarcity at least one month each year

~50 litresused by a typical 5-minute shower

2.5%of Earth's water is fresh water

About this challenge

Water is one of our most important resources. People need it to drink, grow food, stay healthy, clean, travel, and power local economies.

But not every community has easy access to safe, reliable water. Some places face drought, pollution, aging pipes, flooding, high costs, or wasteful water use.

This challenge asks you to design a solution that helps protect, conserve, clean, share, or improve access to water in your town.

Why it matters

Clean water supports health, education, food systems, businesses, and the environment. When water is unsafe or hard to access, it affects almost every part of life.

Water is also limited. Even though Earth is covered in water, only a small amount is fresh water that people can easily use.

Watch

See it for yourself

Are we running out of clean water? (TED-Ed)

Tap to play · loads from YouTube

Think about

Push your idea further

Question 1How do people in your town get clean water?

Question 2Where is water being wasted?

Question 3Who is most affected when water is scarce or unsafe?

Question 4Could your solution help collect, clean, save, share, or monitor water?

Question 5Could technology help people use water more wisely?

Question 6Could your idea also reduce pollution or protect nature?

Question 7How might your town's quirks make this easier, or harder?

Learn more

Go to the source

UN-Waterwww.unwater.org WHO: Water and Sanitationwww.who.int