Compared to what governments expend on military weapons, the cost of providing people with the means to improve their health is small. Water And Health for the Rural Poor Managing water supply can be difficult in rural areas. Drinking-water quality is especially difficult to control and even in the most developed countries, small community water supplies frequently fail on basic microbiological quality.
Rural communities have a different relationship to water than do urban dwellers.
Water dominates every aspect of their lives. People in the countryside live off the land and depend on water to grow their crops. Scarce water supplies are used sparingly for household needs. Water is the source of their livelihood and, when unclean or mismanaged, the source of ill-health and continued poverty. Water contains many trace elements and minerals, which may be benign, beneficial or toxic.