The World Health Organization estimates that 780 million people in the world lack access to clean water. That is approximately one in nine people! It is a problem that knows no border and Indonesia is not immune to this problem. Access Life Lombok is committed to seeing communities changed through conducting projects that will bring clean water to communities across Lombok.
Access Life Lombok sees the water issue in Lombok as twofold. First, some communities simply do not have access to a water source sufficient enough to meet their daily needs. This is especially true during dry season in rural villages. We have surveyed many different areas across Lombok and the issue seems to be the same; communities often have too much water in rainy season and not enough in dry season. The dry season leads to a water crisis and individuals from the community have to be resourceful in order to sustain their way of life. This often involves walking kilometers to rivers or other water sources so they can have water to drink, bathe, wash clothes and cook. The government’s expansion of the local water network has been substantial in the past several years; however, there are still many villages that have insufficient water year around.
Secondly, even communities that do have access to a year around water source share in a common problem; access to clean water. When people are thirsty and confronted with the decision to drink contaminated water or not drink at all, the decision is easy… they drink, just as you and I would. That does not mean the water they drink is safe for them. Unfortunately this leads to health issues ranging from diarrhea to Typhoid Fever. The World Health Organization estimates that 3.4 million people die each year from a water, sanitation or hygiene related disease. In our opinion, that is too many people dying from an issue that can be overcome.
Providing access to clean water is thought of by many to be a human right. Villages that have access to clean water throughout the year have the chance to prosper in ways that other villages do not. Villages with access to clean water have a higher quality of life. Villagers do not have to deal with the same frequency of health issues as do those without access to clean water. As rural parts of Lombok are still largely farming communities, access to water also provides economic benefit as crops such as rice, corn, peanuts, beans, tobacco are able to be planted more frequently with a higher yield. That is why Access Life Lombok has chosen to focus part of our efforts on finding sustainable solutions to overcoming the water crisis for villages throughout the island.