Did I get your attention? Are you wondering if I mistakenly wrote ‘Plumber’ instead of ‘Doctor?’ According to a poll conducted in 1999 by the British Medical Journal, the most important medical advance since 1840 is . . . drum roll please . . . proper sanitation (clean water & sewage disposal). Sanitation ranked higher than antibiotics, vaccines, and anesthesia.
Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers made up 37% percent of the vote! Even those in the medical field understand the importance of proper sanitation in a civilized society. The majority of the respondents (57%) were from the United Kingdom and United States. You can find the article here: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/suppl_1/DC3
When you live in the United States, it’s easy to take clean water for granted. Here are some sobering facts from http://water.org/learn-about-the-water-crisis/facts/. The information below is a direct quote from the website.
- 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people. (5)
- 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease. (11)
- The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.(1)
- 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, including 1.2 billion people who have no facilities at all. (5)
- Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection. (9)
- Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease. (2)
So, the next time you have a Professional Plumber in your home or business, I hope you are grateful that you live in a country where clean water and proper sanitation is the norm and not the exception.
At Fogarty & Fogarty Plumbing Co. located in Murrells Inlet, SC we take the old plumber’s motto quite seriously. For those who have never heard it, the motto is: The Plumber Protects the Health of A Nation. A large poster with the plumber’s motto is displayed prominently in Master Plumber, Rob Fogarty’s office. A copy of the poster can be found on our website listed below.
