1 out of 6 people in this world live without access to clean drinking water. 80% of all diseases like diarrhea, typhoid and parasites are linked to lack of clean drinking water. Lack of clean water has killed more people that war. It's such a simple problem and it can be a simple solution.

Clean drinking water is something we take for granted in the developed world, but in one-sixth of the world's population, it could mean the difference between life and death. Clean drinking water is not just about life or death, it could also affect the ability to earn income or go to school. Many people walk hours just to get a couple of gallons of drinkable water, losing countless hours a week they could be going to school or earning income. In addition, even the water they are able to get may look clean, but have harmful microbes that can cause disease, and even death, especially among young children.

And when someone does get sick from unclean drinking water, the sickness reverberates into the entire community. Imagine a 9 year-old child who misses 3 months of school because of contracting dysentary. Or a 24 year-old man, the head of his household, who can't work because of typhoid. This is not to mention all the deaths that occur to due unclean water. Communities in developing countries also tend to be more interdependent than modern societies. As a result, when one person or one family is affected by disease caused by unclean drinking water, it affects the entire community.

Additionally, you need clean drinking water for basic sanitation. Imagine a world where you don't have the clean water you need to wash your hand every time you go to the bathroom...how many times a day is that? Also, imagine not having the clean water you need to wash your dishes after a meal...how many dishes is that a day? This is not to mention the clean water needed for washing clothes and bathing. Can you imagine bathing in water that has someone else's fecal matter in it?! Sorry, didn't want to go there...but I did, because it happens.

This unclean water also happens to be the water they use for cooking food. Yes, heating water does kill the bacteria. But think about all the stuff that still sits in the water. So what if the dirt in the water has been sanitized...it's still dirt! In addition, water is not purified unless water is boiling for over 10 minutes.

Charity Water

Charity Water is an organization that partners with organizations who are on the grassroots level to conduct clean water projects like digging wells, building clean water filter systems and other mechanisms to produce clean drinking water in developing countries. Why do they partner instead of doing the water project and digging wells themselves? Well, because in order for Charity Water to go into an area, learn the culture and language, develop trust and relationship with communities and it's leaders, years will pass before a single drill may hit the ground. The charities that Charity Water partners with have been in their respective communities for years, leveraging already built in relationships and track records. This makes conducting a successful clean water project much, much easier.

In addition, these clean water projects are intended to also employ local workers to build and maintain. Not only do they get an income producing job, they also get valuable training on water systems that can be utilized elsewhere in their community. Utilizing local workers also produces in the community a sense of ownership in the water project so they are more likely to take care of the maintenance of the systems. If a community is invited in and engaged in digging the wells, they are more likely to better care for that well and take pride in that well.

Integrity

One of the values of Charity Water is financial integrity. 100% of the money raised by Charity Water goes directly to clean water projects around the world. Additionally, they send reps from Charity Water to the water projects on the ground to take pictures and bring back reports of the status of these projects in an effort to maintain financial integrity with their partners and donors. You can actually track the progress of their water projects on google earth complete with pictures and stories.

They also accept gifts-in-kind, meaning print services, office supplies, etc., to keep their overheard going without having to raise funds to pay for administrative costs. Not exactly sure how they pay their staff if 100% goes to projects, but nevertheless, I'm sure they report that all in their 990's every year. They're one of the few charities that maintain a 0% overhead.

Media

Charity Water is REALLY good at getting the word out about the significance of water issues in international development. They have a great media and public relations team. They have done an excellent job branding, promoting and marketing themselves in a culturally relevant way across a broad audience. They were recently featured in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. They've been featured in media outlets like CNN, Elle, Relevant, Vanity Fair, and ABC. This is especially impressive in the world of charities. Their skill at public relations and media makes me believe this is a sustainable organization and that any support I give them won't be wasted. Raising money isn't just about the existence of a need. The organization raising money needs to be good at telling the story in a compelling way, and I'm confident that Charity Water, not only knows how to do that, but can continue to do that effectively as the years pass.

So the next time you take a sip of clean drinking water in the middle of a hot day or take a shower or wash your hands in the bathroom, remember that a billion people don't have the same benefits as you. Remember that for you clean drinking water is easily and always accessible, but just imagine walking miles just to get a gallon of partially clean water to drink for you and your entire family.

One clean water well can serve up to 400 people in a community. It's not just clean water. It frees the community's resources of time, money, energy and good health so they can contribute to it's prosperity in other ways.

Liberia, West Africa

I was recently in Liberia, West Africa, where Charity Water supports many of this war-torn country's clean water projects, and have seen first hand how important these water projects are. I was in the capital city of Monrovia with a population of 800,000 people. For this many people to gather water from a natural water source like a river, lake or pond would be impossible for this many people. In addition, I realized what that would do to productivity if each person had to gather water in that manner. And because this is an urban area, water from rivers and lakes would probably be polluted by deadly chemicals.

The Liberians didn't drink much water as it was, but they would probably drink water even less often and it would be more costly to buy if it were not for these wells. I saw a large water well at the largest high school in Liberia. This school had about 1,000 students and I could not even imagine how difficult it would be for even a team of people to have to haul in water from the local river for 1,000 students to be able to have water to drink for that day.  But because of the water well, students are able to learn not having to worry about getting clean drinking water for themselves.

In Liberia, Charity Water partners with an organization called Concern Worldwide. It's a very reputable organization that has been working in Africa and other developing nations for many years. When I was there trying to assess the community's clean water needs for any potential humanitarian projects that I could assist in, the locals told me how Concern Worldwide built wells in their communities and how they set up a system of even treating the water with chlorine when it was needed. They had a high regard for Concern Worldwide and their water wells and seemed to not to have a felt-need for clean drinking water.

By the way, I should mention that I do not work for Charity Water. I just want to spread the word because they're doing such good work around the world.

Also, check out some of the other articles that I've written:

HIV Aids in West Africa and Microenterprises

Priorities in Community Development

Hope For HIV/AIDS Patients

There are many charities that do water projects.  But most charities water projects are done in a focused area, largely apart from any other charities works.  Charity Water is the only effort I know of where the charities water projects are all over the world.