Water and Sanitation

More than 1 billion people do not have access to clean water, that is about one sixth of the world’s total population.
In our holistic approach to development, water is often the first step to address a community’s needs, as many issues of health and poverty are directly related to the lack of clean water and proper sanitation resources.

We focus our efforts in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. In each project, we aim to strengthen local communities with organisation, capacity and maintenance training, and education in the causes of water borne diseases so they are better able to articulate their needs, contribute to the project and maintain the water or sanitation resource.

What we have done

The Salvation Army’s water supply projects in recent years include: gravity fed systems in Kenya, tube wells and boreholes in Myanmar, water tanks and latrines in Papua New Guinea and water tanks in China.   These projects are impacting many thousands of people in rural and remote locations. 

The supply of clean water dramatically cuts collection time and increases time available for income producing activities, such as agriculture and education. Clean water allows more productive crops, healthier livestock and healthier families; a  good starting point to exit the cycle of poverty.Many communities impose a water tax on themselves which they use to fund the upkeep of the well and expand the water supply into schools and homes.

Water facts

• Over 1 billion people worldwide live without access to safe drinking water.
• By 2025 more than 3 billion people could be affected by serious water shortages.
• 40% of the world lives without adequate sanitation.
• 4 out of 10 people don't have access to a basic toilet.
• Only 15% of the world's population have the luxury of water on tap.
• The average person in the Australia uses 282 litres of water every day; the average person in the developing world uses just 10 litres.
• In some places, people have to walk up to 10 miles to collect water.
• In many countries, fetching water can take up to five hours a day.
• The weight of water women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is the equivalent of your airport luggage allowance.
• Every 15 seconds, a child dies from diseases caused by lack of water.
• Unsafe drinking water and poor living conditions kill 4000 children everyday.
• Half of all hospital beds in the world are filled with people suffering from water-related diseases such asMalaria, Diarrhoea and Trachoma.

How your support helps

If you are interested in raising financial support for water and sanitation projects you can contact us for more information; have a look at the gifts that keep on giving; or look at the exciting work that we are doing raising funds for remote regions of China. You can also view the following short clips: