Ivory Coast, hydraulic drilling

Throughout Africa the task of collecting water is usually assigned to women as seen here near the town of Doropo. Hydraulic drilling stations, equipped with pumps that are usually manual, are gradually replacing the traditional village wells, and containers of plastic, enamelled metal or aluminum are supplanting canaris (large terra-cotta jugs) and gourds for transporting the precious resource. The groundwater drawn form the pits is more sanitary than that of traditional wells, 70% of which is unfit for drinking. Illnesses from unhealthy water are falling, but are still the major cause of infant mortality in developing countries: diarrhoea kills each year over 1.5 million children below the age of five. As the population grows, roughly 1 in 5 people in the world needs improved access to clean drinking water, which will be one of the major challenges of the coming decades.