SAFE DRINKING WATER ACCESS

Safe water for drinking and hygiene is a basic necessity of life that most of us take for granted; yet for much of the world a safe supply of water does not exist.

RWF is working to increase access to safe drinking water in communities in Central America. Since 2005, RWF has funded water projects in rural Honduras and Guatemala. The projects entail the construction of mountain-spring fed gravity-flow systems that bring the water from the mountain source down to the village directly into homes setup with taps, latrines and drainage for wastewater. The projects also include education focused on hygiene, water management, improving construction skills and environmental sustainability. Currently we are raising funds for water projects in Capuca and San Bartolo, Honduras.  

We are partnered with Water.org in Honduras and Global Partners Running Waters in Guatemala.

WATER FACTS

Over 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe water and 2.4 billion do not have adequate sanitation facilities. Waterborne and sanitation-related diseases kill over 3 million people annually and disable countless millions, making the campaign for safe water and effective sanitation one of the leading health challenges of our time. Contaminated water, lack of wastewater treatment and raw sewage are major causes of disease in the developing world. It is estimated that 80 percent of all infectious disease is transmitted through water. The two principal routes of disease transmission are by drinking contaminated water and having insufficient quantities of safe water for washing and personal hygiene. Waterborne diseases can be bacterial, viral or parasitic. They include cholera, typhoid, infectious hepatitis, poliomyelitis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, hookworm, ascariasis, drancunculiasis (guinea worm) and disease related to arsenic contamination. The results of these diseases are devastating. There are 4 billion cases of diarrhea each year, resulting in over 2.2 million deaths, mostly of children age five and under. Trachoma has blinded over 6 million, and 200 million people are infected with schistosomasis with 20 million of those suffering from active disease. Intestinal worms infect nearly 10 percent of the population of the developing world, resulting in malnutrition, anemia and stunted growth. The areas most affected are Africa, Asia and Latin America. Africa has the lowest safe water coverage of any region in the world. Over 350 million Africans do not have access to a safe water supply, and 500 million lack access to basic sanitation facilities.