Luke Lamour

全世界仍有许多人无法获得洁净的水，一个非营利组织正在努力改变这种情况。

There're still so many people worldwide who don't have access to clean water. A non⁃profit organization called charity: water is seeking to change that. The organization, which is based in New York City, promises that 100% of the donations it receives fund tens of thousands of clean water projects globally.

Why is access to clean water so important? Christoph Gorder, the president and chief global water officer of charity:water has the answer.“Dirty water is bad for people's health because it causes terrible illnesses like diarrhea (腹泻),”Gorder explained. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,one in nine childhood deaths is due to diar⁃rhea. Polluted water can also cause cholera, an infectious bacterial disease, and other ill⁃nesses.

Even children have made a difference in efforts to provide access to clean water.Many kids have helped the cause by asking for donations on their birthday instead of gifts.An an⁃nual award called Tiny Heroes honors young people who have found creative ways to raise funds for clean water projects.

A key objective of charity:water is to make sure that its water projects in 29 countries continue to function as they should.“We developed a water sensor that can be installed on our water projects and can tell us if the pump is working properly,”Gorder said.“It alerts us if anything goes wrong so we can immediately send a technician to repair it.”For most people worldwide,that can mean the difference between life and death.

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Why is access to clean water important according to Christoph Gorder?

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