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Water For People is AWWA's Charity of Choice
Founded in 1991 by AWWA, Water For People is a nonprofit international development organization that helps people in developing countries improve their quality of life by supporting the development of locally sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities, and health and hygiene education programs. Water For People is a natural extension of what AWWA's 60,000 members do on a daily basis — deliver safe, sufficient water to their own communities across North America. In 1995, Water For People–Canada was established to better involve the Canadian water sector in the mission. Water For People remains AWWA's "Charity of Choice" and receives significant support from AWWA members and the North American drinking water community. Water For People currently works in five countries: Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, India and Malawi, and has made a commitment to expand to another five countries by 2011. In 2006, the organization helped provide safe drinking water and/or sanitation to more than 94,000 people and touched the lives of hundreds of thousands more with health and hygiene education. You Can Help Water For People
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As the North American water community debates parts-per-billion of one contaminant or another, the developing world is dealing with billions on another level—the staggering number of people without access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
According to UNICEF, more than 1.1 billion people worldwide don't have access to safe drinking water. Another 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation. The result is devastating. Every day, 5,000 people who share our planet die from water-related illnesses, nearly 2 million each year, and the vast majority of these are children. Epidemics of cholera, dysentery and Hepatitis are common, diseases that can be traced directly to water or sanitation. Water is arguably the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time.
