Matt Damon's Solution To The Crisis That More People Have Cell Phones Than Clean Water

Matt Damon spoke about the global water crisis at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York City yesterday.

Elite Daily was invited to listen, and much of what we heard was extraordinarily disheartening. Water is the most vital resource in the world; without it, humans can't survive. The scale of the problem is simply inexcusable, and much more can be done.

Millions of people across the globe lack access to clean water and sanitation, yet there are so many viable solutions for this problem. To help address this issue, Damon cofounded Water.Org with the organization's current CEO, Gary White.

Water.org is a non-profit that works with local partners to provide expanded access to clean water and sanitation. It's not simply a charity, it's dedicated to finding innovative and substantial solutions to this problem.

Damon and White have put the crisis into perspective by publicizing a number of startling statistics, many of which were shared at the event.

As Damon stated,

We solved [clean water] here in the west 100 years ago. Just imagined if we solved AIDs tomorrow or cancer and in 100 years children were still dying by the millions. It's really unconscionable... And that was really what drew me to water and sanitation was the enormity of the problem. ... You cannot solve poverty without solving water and sanitation.

The four most shocking facts we heard from Damon:

1. A child under 5 will die every 21 seconds from a preventable water-related disease.

2. Today, there are 2.5 billion people without access to sanitation.

3. There are more people in this world who have access to a cell phone than there are who have access to a clean glass of water.

4. The good news is we can solve this problem: There are real solutions that can help a lot of people. Through the efforts of Water.Org, 800,000 people in India were provided with access to clean water for life at the cost of six to seven dollars per person.

Visit Water.Org to learn more about this important issue.

H/T: MSNBC News, Photo Credit: Getty Images