Access to clean water alleviates poverty by enabling people to focus on health and emplyment among other things rather than searching for water sources themselves. Furthermore, having reliable access saves time and reduces risks from potential water-borne illnesses. This is where Charity:Water comes to life with the goal of providing clean water for all.
The Global Water Crisis
Water is essential to life; from Central Australia to sub-Saharan Africa and Asia’s bustling megacities, people struggle to access enough safe drinking water for drinking, cooking, bathing, handwashing and growing their food crops.
Water resources and infrastructure worldwide are increasingly insufficient to meet global water consumption growth, be it due to climate change or other causes. Many communities lack clean water supply systems that protect people against diseases or environmental threats like droughts.
Women and girls are particularly at risk in times of water scarcity, often shouldering the responsibility for collecting it for their families themselves. Their time spent collecting water often prevents them from working or attending school, hindering their efforts to build a better future for themselves and their loved ones.
Without adequate water and sanitation, families are exposed to the risk of diarrheal illnesses which can result in serious health complications, or even lead to death. Children in particular are at greater risk of water-borne illness than adults.
Water access can turn issues into opportunities. With proper support, clean water can empower people to realize their dreams while contributing to improved health - helping people live longer, healthier lives.
How Clean Water Changes Lives
Women and girls living in rural parts of eastern Africa are responsible for collecting water - an often time-consuming task which may expose them to contamination and danger. Carrying heavy jerry cans for miles may eat into hours of their day, leaving no time or energy left over for education, farming, business development or other more pressing matters.
Parents often spend both time and money caring for sick children affected by unsafe water, such as giardiasis or diarrhea, leaving less money available for food, fuel or other essential needs. Some diseases caused by unsafe water sources may even be life-threatening to infants and young children who need immediate medical intervention; as these diseases can kill without treatment.
To mitigate their impacts, we collaborate with partners across the world to install and maintain safe water sources. Additionally, we assist women in changing their hygiene behavior for healthier children and increased household income.
Clean water has the power to transform lives on an almost inconceivable scale. It allows families to improve their health, remain in school longer and earn more money - helping break free from cycles of poverty and build wealthier futures.
Women across Africa and Madagascar are harnessing clean water to start and run successful businesses, providing vital household income that allows their children to attend school and thrive. Elida runs a water kiosk while Sarah owns a small business while Grace operates her farm.
Clean water access can have profound and life-altering impacts for these women and their families, and provides essential resources that promote equality and economic advancement.
With access to clean water nearby, women have more time and resources available to them for education and other essential tasks necessary for their futures. When a borehole was installed in a primary school in Tanzania, attendance and student engagement skyrocketed as soon as it was activated.
Women benefit when access to water becomes more readily available as it allows them to better prioritize tasks such as feeding and caring for family members, maintaining homes and gardens and learning new skills that could enable them to break out of poverty and create their own businesses. When women can do these essential jobs on time, their lives change for the better and become less impoverished.
Building Community-Owned Water Projects
Communities without access to private funding have other options when it comes to water infrastructure development. Rural small communities can form community project committees to determine their water system needs before pooling resources from social action funds or NGOs in order to fund them. Such projects typically cost less than government-sponsored systems and give those in need access to clean drinking water without incurring excessive initial expenses.
Collaboration between local governments or private companies to develop, implement and oversee decentralized water distribution networks may provide another viable option. Such systems could include rain collection, water recycling, well construction or pump installation to provide villages or towns with safe drinking water supplies.
These networks are typically funded with grants or loans from local governments or through donations from private organizations, with initial construction expenses covered through membership fees over time - making community water supplies an attractive revenue stream.
Investment requirements to sustain these networks vary considerably, depending on their size and scale, source quality used and degree of community management. Even supplies which have been implemented using this approach still need ongoing financial and operational support from their communities.
This model has proven its worth in multiple countries and provides an effective means of providing sustainable water supply in underserved areas. Furthermore, it may help leverage existing private sector assets.
Ireland, for example, provides an operational subsidy to community-owned group water schemes (GWSs), covering their costs associated with providing water. Around 300,000 citizens currently rely on community-owned GWS, accounting for roughly 6% of households nationwide.
There are various umbrella organisations in Europe that represent community-owned drinking water services and act as advocates for this sector on an international scale. Austria, Denmark, Finland, Galicia in Spain and Ireland were the five founding regions for ACOWAS-EU (Alliance of Community Owned Water Services in Europe).
How You Can Support
People living in poverty typically don’t have access to safe drinking water - a deprivation that causes up to 80% of diseases worldwide and kills nearly as many as war and violence combined.
Without access to clean water, health workers and community members cannot treat patients or protect their families against illness. Contaminated water may even prove fatal for sick children who ingest it.
Lack of clean water and sanitation is an ongoing and unsustainable problem in developing nations, costing families fortunes in medical bills, productivity loss and time spent collecting water supplies.
Even with all these negative consequences, many communities continue to struggle in finding solutions. With help from organizations who understand their needs and approach, water can transform problems into opportunities - saving lives, strengthening families and attaining economic freedom.
One such organization is Charity: Water, which dedicates 100% of donations directly to water projects. They operate both a peer-to-peer fundraising platform and an internal app designed for field staff that assists them with decisions regarding well funding decisions.
Another way of supporting charity: water is through corporate partnerships. Companies can donate assets and donate towards wells built by communities and which typically last decades.
Charity: water’s team is focused on developing long-term solutions to the global water crisis, including building and maintaining wells in developing world communities so local people can monitor water use.
In Conclusion
Access to clean water is a basic human right that many people across the world still do not have. The global water crisis has far-reaching impacts on health, education, and economic opportunities, particularly for women and girls. Charity: Water is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing clean water for all through community-centered programs and a transparent approach. The impact of clean water is undeniable, and with continued support and investment in sustainable water projects, we can work towards a future where everyone has access to this essential resource.
To know more about how you can help solve the global water crisis through Charity:Water at their website or through their Facebook and Instagram pages.