Protecting our most precious resource

Clean water: We often take it for granted, but people in developing countries struggle to provide it for their families.

Their water can be contaminated by dirt, parasites, sewage and even salt water, leaving families sick or dehydrated from drinking it.

World Concern’s efforts at providing clean water sources include teaching families how to drill and maintain their own low-cost wells in Bolivia and Nicaragua; digging boreholes to serve thousands in the displaced person camps of Sudan; and protecting natural springs in drought-prone regions of Kenya.

Families are also taught about the importance of sanitation and taught to dig pit latrines in order to protect their clean water sources.

Drilling for wells in the most thirsty places

Imagine having to walk 15 miles round trip for a few gallons of clean water.

Then imagine getting to the well to find long lines, filthy water, or nothing at all. 

Such difficult conditions are the rule for many people living in Bolivia, Kenya and other parched countries around the globe.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Find out how our Water For All project can provide a clean well for $100.

Why our large water project in Somalia's Juba Valley is nicknamed "peace."

Photo from around the world

Water-borne disease kills millions every year

• Diarrhoeal disease alone is responsible for 1.8 million deaths annually
• In sub-Saharan Africa, 42% of the population lacks improved water
• In 2002, 1.1 billion people lacked access to improved water sources (about one out of six people)
• Of those 1.1 billion people, nearly two thirds live in Asia
• Droughts cause the most ill-health and death because they often trigger and exacerbate malnutrition and famine
• Between 28 and 35 million people in Bangladesh consume drinking-water with elevated levels of arsenic
  • Source: World Health Organization

Harnessing and maximizing a limited supply

• We pay refugees and displaced people in Chad to dig rain catchment ponds for livestock and limited agriculture
• After the cyclone in Myanmar, staff guide the construction of new rain catchment ponds and install pumps to eliminate saltwater from freshwater
• We line wells in areas near saltwater sources to protect freshwater supplies
• In the dry Juba Valley region of Somalia, we construct shallow wells and establish year-round access to clean water for 50,000 people and 28,000 animals
• Shallow wells in Somalia are also used to establish small gardens