ABILENE, Texas -

More than one billion people in the world don't have access to clean drinking water.

As a result, 700,000 children die every year because they get sick from drinking unsanitary water, about 2,000 kids a day.

"It's the number one reason that people get sick to be honest, is because of water borne diseases," said Myra Dean, director of development at Global Samaritan Resources.

Dean said volunteers with Global Samaritan Resources are doing what they can to help bring clean water to countries around the globe.

Volunteers who are headed for work in many third world countries use purification straws so they can drink from dirty water sources. Drinking through the straws instantly purifies water from any source. That comes in handy when volunteers are visiting countries after a major disaster.

For instance, Global Samaritan Resources volunteers used the straws while they set up water purification kits in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

"There was an outbreak of cholera and we put in one water purification system a day for a week and it basically stopped the cholera outbreak," said Dean.

Those systems are still in place today. They have provided millions of gallons of fresh, clean drinking water and saved countless lives.