text: Potable water is not well distributed in the world. 1.8 million deaths are attributed to unsafe water supplies every year, according to the WHO. Many people do not have any access, or do not have access to quality and quantity of potable water, though water itself is abundant. Poor people in developing countries can be close to major rivers, or be in high rainfall areas, yet not have access to potable water at all. There are also people living where lack of water creates millions of deaths every year.
  Where the water supply system cannot reach the slums, people manage to use hand pumps, to reach the pit wells, rivers, canals, swamps and any other source of water. In most cases the water quality is unfit for human consumption. The principal cause of water scarcity is the growth in demand. Water is taken from remote areas to satisfy the needs of urban areas. Another reason for water scarcity is climate change: precipitation patterns have changed; rivers have decreased their flow; lakes are drying up; and aquifers are being emptied.