water news

March 25, 2013
tweet this

News from Central African Republic

0 comments
| comment here

As you may or may not know, there is currently major unrest in Central African Republic (CAR). This story is dear to us, because it’s a place where we have been heavily involved since 2007 — investing nearly $3.5 million (most of which came from the 2010 September Campaign) and funding 414 water points to serve nearly 300,000 people. That’s almost 6% of the total population.

We have local partners at Integrated Community Development International (ICDI) who we’ve worked with for several years — so we’re following the situation very closely.

Here’s what we know about the current situation:

• There’s been a rebel uprising since December, with multiple rebel groups joining under an umbrella group called Seleka (meaning ‘alliance’ in Sango, a local language)
• A ceasefire was agreed in January. It fell apart, and fighting resumed, with Seleka taking over a few key towns
• Yesterday, Seleka took over the capital city of Bangui. President Bozizé left the country and is believed to be in Cameroon
• There was looting and gunfire in Bangui during the coup. 13 South African peacekeepers were also killed
• Michael Djotodia of Seleka has declared himself the new President, but the rebels appear to be divided over his rule

How this affects our work:

We currently have one grant in process with ICDI for 195 water projects. Due to the security situation, ICDI has stalled all operations in CAR. Most of their drilling, rehabilitation, and maintenance teams have returned either to their homes or to ICDI’s base in the less-affected city of Berbérati to the west. We do not yet know when it will be safe enough for the teams to resume work, but we will keep you posted.

Recommended info:

CNN: What’s behind the turmoil in the Central African Republic
Centrafrique Presse: Seleka press release in French (use Google Chrome to translate)
Twitter: #Centrafrique, #CAR, #RCA

Categories:

March 21, 2013
tweet this

World Water Day 2013

9 comments
| comment here

Today is World Water Day. It’s a day when we can be thankful for the clean water coming out of our taps and turn the world’s attention to the 800 million people still living without access to clean water.

And that’s our plan.

We’ve got a whole bunch of exciting things in store this year — and support from a lot of awesome people. Here’s a little sneak peek of what’s to come:

charity: water Waterwalk in Times Square

Installation in Times Square

We’re raising awareness about the water crisis by setting up a Waterwalk in Times Square. Millions of people around the world walk hours each day to collect dirty water, so we’re asking people to walk a fraction of the distance to experience it for themselves. If you’re in New York City, come check it out. We’ll be located in Duffy Square (between 45th and 47th Streets, Broadway and Seventh Avenue) between 2pm and 7pm.

Some of the incredible charity: water volunteers

Jerry Cans Around the World

Our incredible network of volunteers will be out in full force tomorrow. In elementary schools and on the Atlanta Beltway, delivering PSAs and hosting their own Waterwalks. We shipped Jerry cans to friends all over the world to help make a scene. It’s going to be great. Keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds to see some of that in action.

Pledge your birthday and help raise money for clean water projects

Birthday Stories

More than anything this year, we want as many people as possible to pledge their birthday to clean water projects. So we’ve created some video inspiration and pulled together all of our favorite stories to inspire you. Take a look at the brand new charitywater.org/birthdays!

TEDxRVA

There are also some really cool events happening. Like TEDx on Friday night in Richmond, Virginia — which will include the installation above, as well as a Waterwalk through the city.

We’re excited. It’s going to be a pretty amazing day — and hopefully an impactful one. You can join us by pledging your birthday or donating right now!

—-
A special thanks to our fantastic partners:
TOMS
W Hotels
Seamless
AG Jeans
Outbrain
Bazaarvioice
Zynga
Twitter
ThredUp
AOL Impact
Zendesk
Responsys

Categories:

December 4, 2012
tweet this

A brand new technology supported by Google

63 comments
| comment here

We’re proud to announce that charity: water is a recipient of a Global Impact Award from Google.

The first projects we ever built were six wells in a refugee camp in Uganda. We wanted to prove to our donors that their money was spent exactly how we said it would be, and where it went.

So we walked into an electronics store and bought a handheld GPS device for $100. We took it to Uganda, went to each project and plotted six points on Google Maps™. Then we made the information public on our website along with the photos for everyone to see. We’ve been doing that ever since.

Fast forward six years later, and we’ve now funded over 6,994 water projects in 20 countries that will serve more than 2.5 million people. And although we’ve continued to map every single water project, we don’t think knowing their location is good enough anymore. We want to know whether each one of them is working right now, in real time.

Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re launching a $5 million pilot project with Google to develop remote sensor technology that will tell us whether water is flowing at any of our projects, at any given time, anywhere in the world. Google has funded this entire initiative through the new Global Impact Awards. This award will help charity: water further advance transparency and sustainability in the water sector.

Although our staff and local partners visit our programs frequently, it’s simply not possible to visit every project often enough to ensure that water is flowing all the time. Thanks to this Global Impact Award from Google, we’ll be able to go from hoping that projects function over time, to knowing that they are.

Over the next few years, we’ll develop and install 4,000 low-cost remote sensors in our existing and new water projects in several countries.

sensors

These sensors will transmit real-time data to us and our partners, and eventually to you, the donor.

But just knowing the status of projects isn’t good enough. If a breakdown occurs, there needs to be a system in place to ensure that it gets fixed quickly. That’s why an important part of this pilot will be to continue training and establishing local mechanic programs all over the world who can dispatch to communities within their reach and make repairs. This will create new jobs and small business entrepreneurs in places where they don’t exist today.

india

We know the data will uncover new challenges, but we’re excited and committed to meet them head on. We’ve used Google Maps™ to innovate over the last six years, and today we’re incredibly excited to work with Google on remote sensor technology, this time to further increase transparency for our donors, and to deliver water more reliably than ever before, to the people who need it most.

india

Categories:

April 5, 2012
tweet this

Looking back at World Water Day 2012

1 comment
| comment here
On March 22, we celebrated World Water Day with one of our biggest asks ever — we asked everyone we knew (and didn’t know) to give up their next birthday, ask for donations instead of presents, and help give people clean water. So far, over 12,000 of you have pledged, and we’re just getting started. Why birthdays? It all started when founder Scott Harrison gave up his birthday five and a half years ago. Since then, thousands of people have done the same, helping millions of people get access to clean water. We believe birthdays can change the world, but don’t take it from us. Hear from the people who’ve done it in this video.
ClearCorrect

When World Water Day rolled around, more than 5,400 of you pledged to give up your next birthday for clean water. In the weeks that followed, that number has grown to more than 12,000!

charity: water staff, volunteers and supporters gathered in the office on World Water Day, and emailed, tweeted and called everyone we knew to get the word out. As a result, we saw #worldwaterday trend on Twitter across the USA. Many of you also donated to bring clean water to people in need. We’re so grateful to all of you who joined us and so passionately gave your support.

Check out our favorite photos of some friends we spotted celebrating World Water Day — with a unique charity: water spin!

ClearCorrect
ClearCorrect created this awesome Jerry can out of balloons to prepare for World Water Day.

Nautica store
Nautica launched an in-store campaign that encourages customers to round up their purchases and
donate the difference to charity: water. Nautica’s teams from San Diego (left) and NYC (right).
Zappos event
Zappos employees held a water themed event coordinated by Pua (Joy) Medeiros, Mercedes Mincks,
and Kristin Colbert. Find out more about the event here > (photos: Jia Tse)

Check out these other organizations that focused on the water crisis for WWD:

–Klout launched a new site, Klout for Good on World Water Day to encourage everyone to give up their birthdays.

–Mr. Youth, an NYC based advertising agency, shared photos on Facebook with thought-provoking pledges on WWD.

Missed World Water Day? It’s not too late to pledge your birthday. Get started here ». If you have photos or stories from World Water Day, we’d love to hear from you! Leave us a comment below with a link!

Categories:

March 8, 2012
tweet this

Recognizing women in the water crisis.

6 comments
| comment here

Today is International Women’s Day. We’re taking a minute to celebrate some of the women of this past year — specifically, some amazing daughters, mothers and grandmothers we met in November 2011 while traveling in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.

Almost a billion people in the world live without clean water. We call that the water crisis. And while we know many of these are men, the water crisis takes a significant toll on women of the world. Women are twice as likely as men to collect water for their families each day. Many in Sub-Saharan Africa walk up to four hours each day to get water that’s likely to make them sick when they get it home to drink.

Today, we hope you join us in recognizing the women of this world who bear this burden, who get up early or stay out dangerously late, who haul forty pounds of water weight in a Jerry can strapped to their backs… who strive for and hope for their children’s health, who put their families first. We’re lucky enough to have met some when we travel to the field. Their stories continue to shock us, inspire us and keep us working to bring clean water to every person on the planet.

photos: Mo Scarpelli / charity: water
womens day

Women we met in Baskura, Ethiopia, in November:

This video was made for the Rockstar Cavemen, the sponsors of this new freshwater well.

Stories of amazing women and girls in the past year:

jerry can
- Khadija from Bangladesh: Clean water and toilets brought her back to school.
- Mintamir from rural Ethiopia: She used to wish for clean water to wash each day like the city girls… her wish came true. “I am just like them now.”
- Poppy from Bangladesh: Not much is clean or accessible for the disabled in Pora Bosti slum… but Poppy’s new toilets are.
- Whitney from the U.S.: She ran coast-to-coast to raise funds and awareness for clean water.

Have more stories to share about amazing women? Leave us a comment with a link or a personal story. Happy Women’s Day!

Categories:

More »