Water is essential to life. It means food can grow, people are healthy and life can flourish. A person can only survive on average three days without water, and if the water they have is dirty and contaminated, fatal diseases spread quickly and the effects are devastating.

When we build a water system, we want to ensure that after we leave, the locals never need to ask for help accessing water again.

That’s why we take a carefully tailored approach in each area. In some areas there is no groundwater, so digging a water well won’t work – we build a system which catches rainwater instead. In countries which have wet, rainy seasons followed by long, dry periods, we construct micro-dams and reservoirs to store the water safely for use all year round. And to save women and children the difficult physical task of pumping water by hand, we harness natural energy with solar powered wells.

It isn’t just about building systems – it’s about building people too. We train local people to take care of their new systems, as well as teaching them how to use water safely to improve health and hygiene, so that when we leave, they have truly been given water for life.

You can be part of this amazing story, and it all starts here. With water.