Excerpted from a 2007 speech by Malcolm Morris, H2O Africa Board Member and Chairman of the Millennium Water Alliance.

I like to explain the challenge of the water crisis by asking people to visualize a baseball diamond...

1st BASE = LIFE:
No human (or any other living thing) can exist without water. The greatest gift anyone can give to another is to show you cared enough to give them life. Water is life.

2nd BASE = HEALTH:
Of all sickness, disease and premature death in developing countries, a stunning 80% is the consequence of bad or no water. With clean water, we can empty 50% of hospital beds and allow the health budget to go to other critical care needs. HIV patients already suffering from water borne disease and pathogens, even once given anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), will more likely lose their life than be cured. Water is health.

3rd BASE = EDUCATION:
Dr. Peter Agre of Johns Hopkins received the Nobel Prize for chemistry for his discovery of "aqua-porins" - channels in every cell of our bodies through which only water can pass. Each cell literally runs on water. Putting dirty water in the body is like putting dirty gas in your car. Dr. Agre says without clean water the brain cannot function properly, the heart does not work correctly, and even motor skills are negatively impacted. By giving children clean water in schools, their brains are enabled to learn at maximum capacity. Given clean water, educational test scores go up. Graduation levels increase. An especially tremendous impact is made in the lives of girls whose lives otherwise revolve around the chore of fetching water. Their life-earning capacity will increase an estimated 15% (compounded annually) for each additional year of education after the 6th grade. Water is education.

HOME PLATE = ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (I.E., JOBS):
No economic development can happen - no investment dollars are attracted to a country - without sufficient quantities of clean water. It takes three glasses of water to make a glass of soda, 1100 gallons to make a hamburger, and 29,000 gallons to make a car. Even sewing circles, canning, and cottage industries require supplies of water. Without sufficient supplies of water a country's economic infrastructure stagnates and job opportunities are not available. Water is jobs.

THE PITCHER'S MOUND = PEACE:
People who are alive, healthy, educated and employed are more interested in continuing to improve the lives of their families than attacking others. Studies in developing countries have shown that the two leading causes of frustration leading to conflict are the lack of clean water and sanitation. In Kenya on Valentine's Day 2005 a tribal clash broke out over access to insufficient supplies of water. Twenty people, mostly children, were killed. An NGO I helped to found completed two peace wells for each of the communities. Peace came to the area.
At the dedication of these Peace Wells, President Kibaki of Kenya declared:

"All over the world, water has been the trigger for war. Even here in Kenya, in clashes over water, the lives of our own children were lost, but from now on with the dedication of these Peace Wells, water will now be known as the trigger for peace in Kenya."