Business as Usual

World Water Day has come and gone, again. Sometimes we get caught up in the hype of World Water Day so much that the days following the Big Day can be a little anticlimactic. What did you do this weekend? I can tell you that I did almost nothing WASH-related; I took a hiatus. Today, there wasn't a sense of urgency like we felt in the last few weeks leading up to World Water Day, with all the social media outreach, the newsletters, the events celebrating the Day. It was business as usual.

Things have gone back to normal for us - but what about all those people we've been talking about and using for our speeches, advocacy, and pictures for World Water Day? What about the more than 783 million people that still don't have access to clean drinking water for themselves and their families? What about the 2.5 billion people (or 4.1 billion people, as a UNC study has now claimed) who don't have a place to use the toilet? What about the women and girls who have to leave the safety of their house at night to find a place to defecate? What about the millions of children under age five who we are losing each year? What about the girls who can't go to school because they don't have a place to use the bathroom once they start menstruating? What about the women who are stuck in a cycle of poverty because they spend hours and hours each day collecting contaminated water, instead of producing income? Unless a miracle happened over the weekend, they are still there and they still need WASH.

Just because the Big Day of the WASH sector has now passed does not mean that we can go back to business as usual. Matt Damon may be able to go to the bathroom again, but there are still billions of people who can't. The people without WASH don't get a break, and neither do we until the global WASH crisis is solved. Let's not let the awareness we raised and the inspirations we caused go to waste by waiting for next World Water Day. Take action now:

• Become a WASH Advocate. Sign the World Water Day Petition telling Congress and your Senators and Representatives to pass the Water for the World Act, which will soon be reintroduced. This legislation will help ensure that existing U.S. funds will be spent efficiently and effectively on WASH programs overseas.
• Donate. Donate your time; donate your money. Donate your resources and skills to the plethora of organizations doing great and sustainable work in the WASH sector. Find efforts near you and get involved.
• Talk to anyone and everyone who will listen (and even those who won't), all year long!