I have heard my whole life that 8 cups of water is a sufficient amount of water to drink per day, but as I have been pregnant, nursing, and working in the hot sun for the past couple months I wanted to know how much water is really enough.

Here is what I have found out:

I requested "Your Body's Many Cries for Water" by F. Batmanghelidj from the library about 6 months ago. I waited longer for this book than I did for Harry Potter book 7. The author believes that many of our current health issues are caused or made worse by our lack of adequate water intake.

Each person should be drinking half their body weight in ounces in water each day.

Example: person weighs 150 pounds, they should be drinking 75 ounces of water

This formula works under regular conditions. Under unusual circumstances: it is hot, you are; sick, pregnant, nursing, exercising, ecetera, more water is necessary.

Juice, soda, coffee, tea, or energy drinks are not a substitute for water. "Natural stimulants in coffee and tea are larger quantities of caffeine and lesser amounts of theophylline. These are central nervous system stimulants; at the same time, they are dehydrating agents because of their strong diuretic action on the kidneys." There is a huge difference between "fluids and water".



There are over 1,000,000,000 people in this world who don't have access to clean drinking water and for many who do, they don't get enough or choose to drink other fluids.

I am inspired by the story of Ryan Hreljac who as a 6 year old heard about how many people did not have access to clean drinking water and worked for 4 months to earn $70 to put a well in a village in Uganda. Since then and 10 years later he has "contributed a total of 502 water and sanitation projects in 16 countries bringing clean water and sanitation services to over 621,712 people." Click here to read more about Ryan and his foundation, Ryan's Well.



I also found this other cool site that talks about water projects going on through the world, check it out.
Charity: Water

A while ago I heard of a company that installs merry-go-rounds in villages that when the children play on them, it supplies the energy needed to pump clean water to the village. I found the website for this innovative way to bring water to communities.

I heard on the news the other day that the best water to drink, at least in Salt Lake is direct from the tap. The reason for this is that tap water is regulated by the EPA where bottled water is regulated by the FDA. The EPA apparently has stricter guidelines.

I even found a blog blog totally dedicated to the benefits of drinking water.

Conclusion:

I have a hard time comprehending that there are one billion people in this world, today that are without clean water. I can't even count that high. Many individuals and communities have been helped by a simple well or sanitary facilities. There is still more work to be done. We can all help, in some way. I watched a video that pointed out, that maybe everyone is not in a position to give money, but everyone can tell someone about the problem.

Until every person in the world has access to clean water -there can never be enough water. It is essential, it is life.