Today is the official World Water Day.

Yesterday’s twitter chat with Jennifer Barbour and Social Good Moms was amazing.  You can read about the impact of the twitter chat at Social Good Moms. (Look at related story below!)

I learned a ton of incredible information. I’d like to share a few key takeaways, so that all of us can learn and continue to spread awareness. In the interest of time, I’m going to just copy and paste some of the most interesting tweets. Then, if you’d like to share, you can just copy and tweet away!

• Almost 2000 children die daily fr conditions related to unsafe water. @WaterAidAmerica has solutions! @socialgoodmoms #wateraidnica
• Cannot miss this link! Malnutrition, Parasites, Diarrhea leads to poor child development #WaterAidNica
• #Didyouknow? Over 80% of people in Nicaragua lack access to clean water. #WaterAidNica http://ow.ly/uICkO
• 3.5 million ppl die each year from a water related disease! Infographic from @water http://ow.ly/uPJLM  #WaterAidNica #WorldWaterDay
• Amazing fact per #WaterAid: 97.5% of earths H2O is saltwater,If u could filter it into a bucket only 1 tsp would be drinkable! #wateraidnica
• @katbiggie #wateraidnica A mom once walked 4 hrs every day carrying water from the river; huge impact on her family, economy, time.
• Access to water in low-income countries depends on economic status & it increases disease for those most vulnerable! #WaterAidNica
• One thing we’ve seen in low income countries is people bathing with animals and using the water for everything! #WaterAidNica
• Women in developing countries typically walk an average distance of 4 miles/day on her trek for water. #WaterAidNica via @socialgoodmoms

There is so much more information out there, but you get the point. Water is not always readily available in many countries, and the impact is immense. Sickness, death… poor quality of life.

My own personal water story? I was deployed to the Middle East, and although we knew better than to drink water from the tap, I didn’t think that much of brushing my teeth with tap water. I then had the opportunity to think about it long and hard as I suffered through dysentery.  Not something you want to go through. Especially not in a hot, desert climate, where you’re living in tents and sharing public restrooms. 🙁 And that is something people deal with regularly.

I want you to meet someone special.

This is Linda. She is the mother of six. She repairs wells and farms several acres. Talk about a woman who isnpires!!

• Linda took us to see her crops across the river and opened her house to us. Amazing woman. #WaterAidNica @anotherjenb

To find out ways you can celebrate #WorldWaterDay visit @WaterAidAmerica’s toolkit: http://bit.ly/1dvw9XO  #WaterAidNica

And, finally, just because I love Jennifer and am so proud of all that she’s done, I thought I’d share this silly picture from the end of her trip.

Related articles

• The Impact of the #WaterAidNica Chat + Key Tweets