Biology Assignment

Approximately 700 million people do not have access to clean drinking water. The results affect all aspects of life in developing countries. According to Water.org, a child dies every 90 seconds from a water-related illness and women in some water stressed areas spend several hours every day collecting water for their families’ basic needs.

There have been many suggestions about ways to improve access to clean water. One of the problems is that in many areas, the lack of access is coupled with a lack of the electricity, developed roads, machines and equipment necessary to be able to support digging municipal wells and providing pumping stations, reservoirs and pipelines.

Go to the Water.org website http://www.water.org, read all of the information under both the “Crisis” pull-down menu and the “Solutions” pull-down menu. Answer the following questions and explain your responses:

1. Is water.org a reliable information source?

a. Do they give supporting evidence for their claims? Give specific examples.
b. Do they give references for their evidence, as well as clear explanations? Give specific examples.
c. Is WaterCredit a workable solution to water problems around the world? Give specific examples.

Next go to http://www.charitywater.org . Read the information on the Home page. Next, under the “WC News” menu, click on the “Featured Projects” tab, and read the information on one of the listed projects.

2. Compare and contrast the water.org and charitywater.org sites by discussing at least two ways that they are the same or similar and at least two ways that they are different.

According to the Urban Institute, in the 10 years between 2001 and 2011, the number of nonprofits, like water.org and charity: water, increased 25 percent. Charity Navigator is an independent, nonprofit charity watchdog, which rates thousands of nonprofits to help donors make decisions on their giving.

Go to http://www.charitynavigator.org. Type water.org into the search engine and then click on “water.org.” Read all of the information given. Next, type charity: water into the search engine and then click on “charity: water,” and read all of the information given.

3. Based on the information given on the Charity Navigator site, are water.org and charity: water using donations effectively? Explain your response.