Today's hypothetical budget buster would go to organizations working to develop sustainable sources of safe drinking water around the globe.
The impact of clean drinking water on public health is immeasurable. An overwhelming majority of communicable, diarrheal disease can be traced to contaminated water sources. The need for clean water is especially critical for infants and children with fragile and developing immune systems. With greater body surface area for weight, infants and children need more clean water per pound or kilogram of body weight than do adults. Infants and children also typically lose their hydration more quickly during acute illness than do adults.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that over 35% of the world's population do not have access to adequately sanitized sources of drinking water. Some communities have managed to make strides towards improving access to water sources, but those sources are not yet "microbially clean". Again from the CDC, water sanitation has proven to reliably bring enormous economic return on investment in terms of dollars saved in healthcare costs. Most profoundly, water sanitation saves lives.
For more information on how you can advocate for or give to water sanitation projects around the globe, visit the CDC's database for global water, sanitation, and hygiene.
http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/
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