My Water Quality, My Life Expectancy

It is well acknowledged that water forms a bigger part of man. "The total amount of water in a man of average weight (70 kilograms) is approximately 40 liters, averaging 57% of his total body weight. In baby who has just been born, water may constitute about 75% of the body weight; very high, according to Guyton's Textbook of Medical Physiology. So generally, about 60% of the body weight of any human being is made up water!

Water is really important then, because the water in the body must be constantly replaced. With what do we replace the water in our bodies? With water, of course! It therefore means that the water we drink to keep our bodies functioning properly has to be of really high quality if we really want to have a quality life. In Ghana, many households are without access to clean water and these households are forced to use unhygienic sources of water. Even those who are privileged to be connected to the distribution lines of the Ghana Water Company do not receive any water through their pipes. And when these taps flow, the kind of water that comes out can’t be called quality. Just fetch pipe water in a bucket, allow it to settle and you will be amazed by what you will see settled at the bottom of the water.

Whenever I remember that water makes up about two-thirds of man and I also look at the quality of water I have flowing through my taps for me to use to replace the water that comes out of me through various means, it becomes not so difficult to understand why it is estimated that most Ghanaians will not really live long. Ghana’s life expectancy at birth is around 57 years according to the World Bank (2008) (http://data.worldbank.org/country/ghana). With Ghana aiming at achieving 85% coverage for water supply and sanitation by 2015, which would exceed the Millennium Development Goals' target of 78%, I hope our life expectancy at birth will also increase.

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