The Yellow Jerry Can

A common site around here is a yellow jerry can.  In many countries in Africa women and children use this 20 litre jerry can to collect, transport and store their water.   

The jerry cans initially held cooking oil or (more alarmingly) diesel fuel.  They are cleaned and then used to transport water.

Apparently this is a big improvement from the old clay water vessels as jerry cans are lighter, more durable and easy to carry on the head.  The phrase “easy to carry on the head” may be a matter of opinion as I would be hard pressed to lift a full jerry can let alone get it up to my head.

According to the WHO, living within 1 km of a safe water source and having access to 20 litres of water per day (per person) is deemed sufficient for adequate drinking and personal hygiene.  As Canadians, we would have a tough go of it on 20 litres of water per day.

                                                               Here is a little number quiz:

-Number of kilometers walked by the average African women in search of water per day:  6

-Number of kilos of a 20L jerry can weighs when filled with water: 20

-Number of people living more than 1 km from a safe water source:  1.1 billion

-WHO estimate of annual deaths from water-borne diseases due to unsafe water: 3.3 million

-Number of litres of water used per day by the average Rwandan: 5

 -Number of litres of water used per day to irrigate the world’s golf courses: 9.5 billion!

 -Hours spent in one day by women and children on collecting water for domestic use: 200 million

 -Environment Canada stats of how many litres of water individuals use in an average day:

                                                                     Americans: 575

     Canadians: 335         

     Europeans: 200

     Asia: 95

     Sub-Saharan Africans: 10-20

I think I will start taking shorter showers.