Amidst memes of canceled classes and boiling water, the incident of Atlanta's 48- inch water main break is terrifying in all seriousness. Buford Highway was completely flooded and closed off. More than a 100 schools in the area were forced to shut down. Dekalb Medical had to reschedule elective surgeries. Emory Hospital had to turn away ambulances. Lack of clean water set off a waterfall (no pun intended) of problems. Thankfully, water pressure was restored around 5 pm along with warnings of contamination.

As all this occurred in mere hours, my classmates and I slowly drank little from water bottles and boiled water in our kettles. Nearby parks informed residents they would be given two gallons of potable water with proof of residence. We rely heavily on clean water for everything; two gallons is barely enough to attend basic needs. It is used for cleaning, cooking, washing food, and most importantly, drinking. It was simple to fill the kettle from the tap and boil it for a few minutes. However, in places across the world like Ghana and Burkina Faso, to right at home in the States in Flint, Michigan, clean water is scarce.

In regions like Ghana and Burkina Faso, people sometimes must walk miles to obtain water for basic needs. This water is not guaranteed to be cleaned. We complained about having to go downstairs to use the restroom. Imagine trekking miles for dirty water? We run our taps endlessly whereas each droplet should be treated as a precious gem.

Dekalb county residents boiled water to safely consume it. In places like India, boiling water is necessary every day. Extra energy is expended to ensure clean water. For decades, water-borne illnesses such as cholera, E. coli, and norovirus among other various diseases killed hundreds of people. Nowadays, these diseases seem rare, but in countries like Haiti, cholera is an epidemic. In fact, this epidemic could only be ending this year.

Even a wealthy country like the U.S. is not immune to contaminated water. The crisis in Flint, Michigan is the epitome of government neglect. A whole community suffers because of old, lead pipes. From this tragedy, it demonstrates how access to clean water is a right. There was an inadequate amount of water bottles being passed out to students in Dekalb county schools. What do you tell a whole community, let alone a child when they are in need of water?

I believe it is the duty of everyone with access to clean water to not take it for granted. Carelessly running the tap or complaining about only having plain water to drink is ignorant of the people who suffer due to water scarcity. There are many projects that provide clean water to places in need. Water.org gives 10 million people access to clean water in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. A personal project I fundraised for in high school, Wells for Africa, builds wells for communities in Ghana and Burkina Faso. There are plenty of organizations working to grant access to water.

The water main break in Georgia was a taste of what millions of people experience daily. Let's learn from our experiences and do our part to fix it.