The Water Crisis
Without clean water, education cannot thrive, gender inequality grows, economic activity becomes stagnant, and development is stifled.
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Without clean water, education cannot thrive, gender inequality grows, economic activity becomes stagnant, and development is stifled.
Water scarcity is both a natural and a human-made phenomenon. There is enough freshwater on the planet for seven billion people but it is distributed unevenly and too much of it is wasted, polluted and un-sustainably managed. (UN)
Nearly 2.2 billion people globally lack reliable access to safely managed drinking water. (WHO and UNICEF, 2019)
Almost 40% of those without an improved source of drinking water live in Sub-Saharan Africa. (UN 2014)
Women and girls are responsible for water collection in 8 out of 10 households where water is not piped into the home. (WHO and UNICEF, 2017)
Women and girls in developing countries walk an average of 3.5 miles every day to fetch water. (USAID, 2013)
Lack of sanitation facilities (with clean water) for girls reaching puberty makes them more likely to miss school than boys. (WHO and UNICEF, 2019)
Contaminated water can transmit diseases such diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio. Contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 485,000 diarrheal deaths each year. (WHO)
The impact on child mortality rates is devastating with more than 297,000 children under five who die annually from diarrhoeal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water. (WHO, 2019)
Water scarcity negatively impacts the availability of hand washing facilities. 1 in 3 people, or 2.3 billion, around the world lack basic hand washing facilities at home. (WHO and UNICEF, 2021)
60% of water projects in Africa fail on average, forcing communities to return to unsafe water sources.
Less than 5% of water projects are visited after they’re constructed, and less than 1% are monitored long-term, (World Bank, 2011).
Communities where water projects fail are often not provided with the training and support required to maintain and manage their water systems.
Because of the education, maintenance, and support provided before and after water projects are implemented, 100% of Well Aware’s water systems continue to provide lasting clean water to their respective communities.
In the span of three years, the school has seen its population increase and its ground changed from once rocky to green and vegetative. Students now plant tree seedlings and the school prides itself in its new kitchen garden.Read More
BIG NEWS! Well Aware broke ground on our 100th WATER PROJECT! Benefiting the community of Muruku, Kenya, and approximately 4,500 people.Read More
The moment you walk into Ol Moran Secondary School, you are guaranteed a warm hearty welcome by the principal, John Kimathi, who has been there since the inception of Well Aware’s water system back in 2017.Read More
When we first met Kelelwa, it was a pastoralist community, moving from place to place and temporarily settling around streams and water. Women and girls traveled up to 12 km (7.5 miles) to fetch contaminated water.Read More
Communities become overwhelmed with joy and gratitude when Well Aware breaks ground on a new water system. In recent visits with partner communities in Kenya, they shared with us their thoughts and feelings.Read More
For years, the Salaita community struggled with a lack of clean water, with all 2,000 individuals relying on a dysfunctional borehole well nearby that barely produced water each day.Read More