Bring Safe Drinking Water to Children in India

With your support, we have raised over $5,000 to support the installation of community water purification systems in three villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India to respond to an urgent need for safe water.

We launched the first of three sites on November 22, 2010, working with the community in Pochampalli, India to design and install a locally sustainable water purification system. The safe water station is already providing approximately 3,000 liters of purified water a day, serving over 2,000 people in the village. Alongside the technology, we have developed programs to ensure sustainability over time. We have trained local operators, provided hygiene education for safe handling of water, introduced an ownership model, and developed promotional materials to increase community demand for clean water.

In the coming months, we will launch additional projects in the villages of Katrappalli and Kothapalligori to reach our project goal of providing access to over 8,000 people in 3 low-income villages. But this is just a beginning. This project is part of a broader impact plan to develop solutions that can be scaled to enable the more than 100 million people in India—mostly in rural, poor areas—to have access to safe, affordable water. 

Without this, already overburdened communities bear the added stress of healthcare costs, loss of school days and reduced time for income-generating activity. With 1.8 million children in India dying before the age of 5 each year, largely the result of waterborne illnesses, it is children who are most affected by the lack of access to clean drinking water.

Together, we are enabling children to return to school, women to gain time for livelihoods, and communities to grow stronger. With your help, we are moving closer to finding lasting solutions that can have impact at scale. 

Links:

• Learn more at www.safewaternetwork.org