Question

What is an example of an effective rhetorical question in a presentation about the importance of investing in clean water?

How many countries around the world have access to clean drinking water?
What are some ways to attempt to provide clean water in more locations?
What would happen to long-term health if everyone had access to clean water?
What are the costs and benefits typically associated with water-treatment plants?

Answer 1

The third option is the strongest as a rhetorical question:
"What would happen to long-term health if everyone had access to clean water?"

Why it works
- Invites the audience to imagine a positive outcome (engages emotion and empathy).
- Is big-picture and consequential, so it frames your argument for investment.
- Doesn’t demand a factual answer, so it functions to motivate rather than inform.

Tighter, punchier alternatives you can use in a slide or spoken line
- "Imagine everyone had clean water — how different would our public health look?"
- "What if no child ever missed school from a waterborne illness?"
- "How much healthier could our communities be if clean water were universal?"

Quick tips for delivery
- Precede it with a striking stat (e.g., people affected by unsafe water) to raise stakes.
- Pause briefly after the question to let the audience picture the answer.
- Follow with a concrete example or call to action that ties the imagined benefit to investing in solutions.