The Need
Roughly one sixth of the world’s population does not have access to clean drinking water (over 1 billion people).
Nearly two million children die each year from preventable diseases due to unclean water and inadequate sanitation (5000 children every day -- more than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles combined).
Forty billion working hours alone are spent carrying water each year in Africa. With adequate access to water, a community’s economic output can increase by more than $200 per family per year. In countries where people earn less than $1 per day, this increase is life-altering.
Rural African households spend more than 25% of their time fetching water. This burden generally falls upon women and girls. When removed from the water delivery cycle, women have the opportunity to fully participate in local economies and girls have the chance to attend school and contribute immeasurably to their communities’ economic and social fabric.
Children frequently suffer physical developmental deformities from the weight of the water they carry daily at such a young age.
