Water of life - and of death!

In Britain our weather is rarely far from our lips. When it's not a 'Nice day!' it is too hot, too cold, too dry or, more often, too wet.

We can't live without water while too much can cause misery and death. The tragedy that has struck Pakistan has brought this home even more forcefully but for some it is part of the on-going struggle to provide for others what we take for granted. 'Water Aid' is an international non governmental organisation. Their mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world's poorest communities.

Their current campaign "Dig toilets Not Graves" seeks to save the lives of 4,000 children who die every day through the lack of this basic amenity. There are "2.6 billion people worldwide still don't have access to clean, safe toilets – a basic human right.

This is more than an inconvenience. It's a killer. Diarrhoea kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

The solution to the problem is simple - safe toilets will save thousands of lives. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will be attending a Millennium Development Goals summit in New York to discuss global poverty targets and we are asking him to make building toilets a priority.

We call on our coalition Government to tackle this global crisis and prove their commitment by increasing aid to sanitation and water to £600 million.

Please help us shout so loud the UK Government has to listen. There is no time to lose, so please put your name to our petition right now and together we can work to dig toilets, not graves."

Water Aid is asking for our support by signing a petition by 19 September 2010. You can do so here.

Postscript - Please forward this request to others who will be willing to sign the petition using the email facility below.