Water, it's life's most basic need. But there's a water crisis in our world right now, seriously, a crisis. Nearly one billion people live without clean drinking water. It's happening all over the world, especially in developing areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. It's a water crisis because it starts with water. But water affects everything - education, health, poverty and especially women and children. 水。它是生命最基本的需求。但是現在我們的世界有一個水危機，真的、一個危機。有將近10億人的生活沒有乾淨的水。它發生在全世界，尤其是撒哈啦沙漠以南的非洲、東南亞和拉丁美洲等開發中地區。這是一個水危機、因為起因就是水。但是水影響了所有的東西 - 教育、健康、貧窮、尤其是婦女和兒童。
Let's look at a family caught in the water crisis. It's likely they live on less a dollar a day. When they're thirsty they can't just turn on the faucet for a nice cold glass of water. They don't have a faucet. Instead, the women and children go off to collect water. Many walk up to three hours a day to the nearest swamp, pond or river to gather water that's been sitting out in the open, exposed to all kinds of germs. 讓我們來看一下陷在水危機的家庭。很可能他們過的是一天少於一美元的生活。當他們口渴時，他們不能轉個水龍頭就有一杯好的涼水。他們沒有水龍頭。替代的是，婦女和兒童要出去拿水。許多人一天要走三小時到最近的沼澤、水塘或河流去收集位於曠野的地方、暴露於各種細菌的水。
Time spent gathering water is time they can't spend learning to read, write, earn an income or take care of their family. Some women in Sub-Saharan Africa spend more time collecting water than any other activity they do in the day. And the walk isn't just hard. It's dangerous. The women are alone and burdened with forty pounds of water. Many get hurt. Sometimes they're even attacked. 用在取水的時間也就是他們無法用在學習去閱讀、書寫、賺取收入或照顧他們家庭的時間。有些撒哈啦沙漠以南非洲的婦女一天中用在取水的時間超過了她們其他的活動。而且不單只是走路辛苦。這很危險。這些婦女是落單的、而且背負40磅的水。許多人受到傷害。有時候，她們甚至受到攻擊。
When they make it home, the little water they've collected isn't clean. Some people know their water is contaminated with germs that cause diarrea, dehydration, even death. But what choice do they have? Kids, especially babies, are affected most by these germs. About every nineteen seconds a mother loses one of her children to a water related illness. And each day almost a billion people are living this way until they get a little help. 當他們回到家，他們所收集這一點點的水並不乾淨。有些人知道他們的水受到細菌的汙染會造成瘧疾、脫水、甚至死亡。但是他們有什麼選擇呢？兒童，尤其是嬰兒最容易被這些細菌感染。大約每19秒就有一位母親失去她的一個小孩於和水有關的疾病。而且每天幾乎有10億人如此的生活、直到他們得到一些協助。
珍惜水資源
The water crisis is solvable. There are solutions. Some are brand new and innovative like water filtration systems. Some are age old like drilled or hand-dug wells. These solutions bring clean water much closer to the people who need it. A safe water project near a village restores hours each day to a person's life. This time is opportunity. It's freedom to go to school and get an education, to work or start a business, to raise a family. 這個水危機是可以解決的。這有一些解決辦法。有一些是嶄新而且是有創意的水過濾系統。有些是老方法，例如用鑽或手挖出來的井。這些解決辦法可以就近帶給需要的人乾淨的水。在村莊附近有一個安全的水計畫每天能恢復一個人好幾個鐘頭的時間。這個時間就是機會。它是可以自由運用去學校受教育、去工作或發展一個事業來養家。
Africa alone could save forty billion hours each year. That's the entire annual workforce of France. Clean water means less disease. That's less money spent on medicine, which means more money for books and school uniforms. And if the water project is built near a school, it can increase attendance, especially among young girls. The water crisis is vast but we can solve it. Just twenty dollars can provide one person with access to a clean water project in their village and this will mean more than clean water because water changes everything. 單就非洲每年就可以省下400億小時。這是法國一整年的勞動力。乾淨的水意味著較少的疾病。這就是花在醫藥的錢較少了，意味著用在書籍和學校制服的錢更多了。而且如果水計畫是建在鄰近學校的地方，它可以增加就學，尤其是在年輕女孩中。水危機是很廣泛，但是我們可以解決它。僅只是20美元就可以提供一個人在他們的村莊中可以用到乾淨的水，而且這意味著不僅只是有乾淨的水、因為水改變了一切。
