There must be a good reason?

Question

why third world villages don't build next to water supplies. why do they travel for miles to get water?

Answer 1

Often, a village will be first settled by small number of people. Perhaps, just 2 or 3 families. There is plenty of water, food (wildlife, fruits, berries, etc.) for those that are there. But soon, they have children, grandchildren, etc. that mostly decide it "better" to stay in their home village rather than taking the effort (and risk) to start a new village. As a result, the resources of the home village soon can't sustain all the people living there. Resulting in malnutrition, starvation, diseases and death.

Of course, no one family or person sees themselves as the problem. The logic is that if 6 people can live there why not 7, if 7 why not 8, if 8 why not 9,..... if 496 why not 497. The village, as a whole, needs to set a hard limit of the number of people allowed to live there and rules as to who must leave and when. For example, only the eldest child (and their spouse) of each family may stay. All other children must leave @ age 18.

Answer 2

good question...

i agree with james

also maybe they had a water supply and built a village round it

then the water dried up and another source was needed but they couldnt move the village

maybe the water supply area is not a good place to build a village or home

good question though...i like the way you are thinking about it.

i cant pretend i know the answer...

Answer 3

they are most likely next to a water supply, but that is only for farming purpose. In order to get drinkable water they need to buy them from a dependable source (like a well or a line from a water company and they can be rare for remote areas). The water near them is not safe to drink (polluted).

Answer 4

Ummm...well, in at least some 3rd World places, people are not the scariest things who ALSO want a drink...

And it's true that people might live along a river or the coast, so that they can easily trade or get places, but that that might not be where "good water" is located.

Positioning is also dependent upon one's "class" or "wherewithal" as well...and power.  Who is walking miles?  Probably the disenfranchised are walking farther than those who are not.

Also, the World Bank has quite infamously gone into places with development loans and insisted that free water sources  are economic assets which must be charged-for...so that might mean that you now go to a futher, less-good water source...but I am not sure about the effect of THAT horrible policy on the very poor of these areas.  Perhaps they "merely" died...and "reduced the excess population" :-(

It's an interesting question.  I don't think that everyone walks for miles, but people have chosen to live in a variety of habitats, and not all are very hospitable (the very arid areas of the world are a huge problem that way).

Answer 5

Another issue in some climates is that flooding can occur close to water sources, and so you don't want to build close enough that a flood could wipe out the village.