It's hard to imagine anyone drinking toxic, disgusting water, but for eight out of ten families, it the only water available. When the little ones drink this putrid water, the parasites in it thrive in their tiny, defenseless bodies, keeping them weak and sick until their bodies give out and die. Many others develop diarrhea and dysentery, and their bodies can no longer absorb the few nutrients from the meager food they have. They die of malnutrition. Often all at once, an outbreak of typhoid fever will claim many children's lives.
Some families walk ten miles round trip, three or four times a day to fetch water just to survive.
Even when the children survive, constant water retrieval often means they aren't able to go to school regularly. Life holds little hope for quality of life. It is not unusual for a child to go two weeks without bathing or having their clothes washed for lack of enough water. They become lice-invested. These children live a life of malnutrition, illiteracy and disease far beneath any reasonable definition of human dignity.