Contaminated water is their only option. In many villages, the only available water comes from rice paddy fields riddled with bacteria and waterborne disease. People drink from the same shallow ponds where buffalo bathe, women wash their clothes, and children scrub their bodies. Disease spreads rapidly, especially among children. It’s all they have — and it’s slowly killing them.

Some walk for hours into the mountains in search of springs, risking encounters with wild animals. Yes, real threats: tigers, bears, and snakes. Women often walk alone, carrying heavy containers back on their heads, only to repeat the journey the next day.

When desperation grows, exploitation follows. In the darkest corners, women and girls have been forced into sex for water or bonded into labor— modern-day slavery — simply to quench their family’s thirst.

No one should have to trade their dignity, health, or life for water.