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.
Well Aware is excited to announce a new partner school, where two of our Kenya team members attended as girls, will soon have clean water.Read More
This December, in partnership with the Chris Long Foundation, Well Aware plans to construct a new, solar-powered deep borehole that holds the potential to transform the entire Mitero community, impacting 4,000 individuals.Read More
Within the vast Mara plains of Kenya, lies the Oloonkolin community. For generations, this community of more than 3,000 people have utilized the Mara River as their daily source of water for their families.Read More
Being a teacher is hard work in all corners of the world. Our teachers care for and uplift the future generations, and without them, our daily lives would look completely different.Read More
Our Faces of Water highlights individuals within Well Aware’s partner communities directly impacted by clean water. We are honored to introduce you to a few of them.Read More
Oloile Primary School sits in the southern arid region of rural Kenya, with a school population of 480 students and a surrounding community of about 1,000 members, and clean water has brought them together.Read More