Did you know that every minute a child dies of a water-borne illness? A new survey from Clorox reveals that three out of four Americans weren’t aware of this fact. What’s more, only 83 percent are aware that diarrhea is a leading cause of death for children under the age of five.
 
Unlike some global issues, there is a simple and cost effective way to kill bacteria and viruses in water: a few drops of bleach. Yet less than half of consumers (47 percent) surveyed knew that bleach can be used to purify water, even though they likely have a jug at home. Once they learned this fact, the majority of people (83 percent) said that they would drink bleach-purified water in a time of crisis.
 
Clorox is raising awareness about the danger of unsafe drinking water and helping address the issue through The Safe Water Project. In Peru, where 1 in 7 people don’t have access to safe water, The Safe Water Project is installing public bleach dispensers to provide 400,000 liters of safe drinking water daily to more than 25,000 Peruvians. This innovative bleach dispenser model provides a simple, affordable, highly-adoptable water treatment solution for use in poor areas where people collect water from an untreated, communal water source.
 
It’s important to be well-informed about water safety, because safer water means healthier, more empowered children.

Here are additional findings from the survey:

 • Consumers recognize and are concerned by global water safety and security. Approximately four-in-five are concerned by issues of water safety (83 percent) and scarcity (79 percent).

 •  However, most do not realize how severely water-borne illnesses impact young children. Most consumers are unaware that pneumonia (74 percent) and diarrhea (83 percent) are the leading causes of death for children under the age of five. Consumers more frequently believed that war or violence (39 percent) claimed more lives than water-borne illnesses (pneumonia [26 percent], diarrhea [17 percent]), but this is not the case.

 • Yet, they understand that safer water means safer, more empowered children. Though most did not realize water-related illnesses are so lethal to children, the majority (66 percent) draw the connection between increased access to safe water and reduced child mortality rates.

 •  Bleach’s water-purifying properties are not well-known among consumers. Fewer than half of consumers (47 percent) know bleach can be used as a resource to purify water.

 •  Consumers are more familiar with boiling (87 percent), filtering (76 percent) and distilling (62 percent) as means of purification than they are with adding a few drops of bleach (48 percent) to dirty water. Only one-in-five consumers (19 percent) have previously used bleach to purify water.

 • However, upon hearing that a few drops of bleach can purify water, the majority of consumers (83 percent) indicated they would be willing to drink bleach-purified water in a time of crisis. If disaster struck, consumers would be more willing to drink water purified with bleach (75 percent) than they would water purified with iodine tablets (67 percent) or purified sewage/human waste water (33 percent). However, if stranded without clean water, consumers would be more willing to wait for it to rain (52 percent) than they would be to add bleach to the available water supply (40 percent).