Water Crisis

One of the primary causes that Legacy Youth Leadership activates students around is the global water crisis. We believe that the global water crisis is the most pressing humanitarian crisis in the world today and we are helping young people take action by supporting our partner organization Thirst Project.

Problem: Dirty Water

785 million people on our planet do not have access to safe, clean drinking water. That's crazy! *Data sourced from UN

Every 21 seconds a young death could be prevented with access to safe, clean water. *Data sourced from UN

When you fill a 5-gallon jerrycan with water, it weighs 44 pounds.

The task of collecting water tends to fall on women and children between the ages of eight and 13. As a result, women are often unable to get jobs or contribute financially to their households. Children are often unable to go to school or get an education due to the thousands of hours they have to spend annually just hauling water. *Data sourced from UN

The average distance that someone in a developing community walks to fetch water is 3.75 miles. *Data sourced from UN

The Numbers

Health &
Sanitation

1,000Deaths

The number of children under the age of five that are affected daily from water related illnesses. *Data sourced from UN

Food
Security

0Agriculture

Without access to a close, safe water supply, communities can not develop sustainable agriculture production for food security.

Children
Education

6-8Hours

Children spend on average six to eight hours walking for water each day; time that should be spent in school. *Data sourced from UN

Economic
Development

3.75Miles

Women cannot get jobs or provide for their families because they are forced to walk an average of 3.75 miles every day just to fetch water. *Data sourced from UN

W.A.S.H. Programs

Water

Safe water can reduce water-related deaths by up to 21%.

Sanitation

Every time Thirst Project builds a well, they make sure that each community they build in has pit latrines for proper sanitation and safe waste disposal to eliminate open defecation practices. This can reduce water-related deaths by up to 37.5%.

Hygiene

Every community, our partner organization works in gets trained on proper hand washing techniques to stop the spread of waterborne diseases. Their hygiene workers’ teachings can reduce water-related deaths by up to 35%.

No charitable gift has the ROI clean water does.

The Solution: Clean Water

WELLS

40+

The number of years our partner organization's wells should last, if properly maintained.

Our partner organization, Thirst Project’s, preferred method of implementing in the field is to build hand pump freshwater wells. They don’t sell grand solutions or the latest and greatest million dollar schemes, but instead, simple things that work.

There are lots of different methods and technologies that exist to provide solutions to the water crisis, but this tried and true method is without question the most sustainable. Hand pump borehole wells don’t rely on any external source of power. These projects are not dependent on communities’ ability to pay for ongoing fuel costs to run a generator and aren’t dependent on unreliable solar panels, which often break and cannot easily be repaired or replaced by community members (and are a high-risk for theft). Unlike so many so-called “latest and greatest” technologies, which often rely on parts that cannot be locally-sourced & technologies that require unavailable specialists in the rural areas our partners work in, community members can be trained to maintain and repair these projects themselves for decades to come.

BIO-SAND WATER FILTERS

In some areas, underground hot springs and other geological factors prevent the installation of wells.

The presence of arsenic in underground hot springs or other deadly challenges would actually make drinking the groundwater in these regions more dangerous than contracting the waterborne diseases caused by drinking surface water. In these cases, our partners build & install individual bio-sand water filters into families’ homes. Community members still use surface water from open, unprotected sources like rivers or streams, and use these filters in their homes to pour that water through layers of gravel, course & fine sand, and microbiological film to filter out contaminants. While these filters are less sustainable than our preferred method of implementing, wells, they should last at least 10+ years & serve a family of four+ people each.

10

The number of years our partner organization's Bio-Sand Water Filters should last & serve a family of four+ people each.

EMERGENCY &
DISASTER RELIEF

It’s tragic when disaster strikes. As a community, our students want to respond as fast as possible and support our partners as meaningfully as possible. One of the things we love the most about our partners is their commitment to their Standards for Sustainability. When disasters happen, though, they don’t often have time to perform all of the necessary practices to adhere to them as they usually would.

In an emergency, people need safe water THEN. In these cases, our partners have utilized multiple short-term solutions to get temporary water resources FAST to those who need it most. In the past, our partners have purchased P&G’s PUR Packets and distributed them in areas that need stabilization. These are not good as long-term, sustainable solutions, but they help other organizations who are working in affected areas stabilize the water situation there so that those organizations can continue their long-term work. This is the only time our partners take on work in countries other than those where they are currently active. After our partners initial support, and sustainable long-terms solutions are in place, they withdraw.

Spring Protection Systems

For some larger systems in communities where there are safe, natural springs present, our partners will install protective structures around these springs and then capture and safely store pure water for the community to use later.

Rainwater Catchment Systems

We want to make the most of every opportunity to get safe, clean water to those who need it most. In some communities where our partners build wells, if the rainy season is strong & consistent enough, they will often work with community members to install gutter-style systems onto rooftops to direct rainfall into sanitary holding tanks for later use (often only washing & cooking), which allows them to save water from the wells in these communities for more critical drinking needs.

The Impact

  • More than H2O

    When you bring safe, clean water to a community, it doesn’t just mean that people aren’t thirsty anymore. Water impacts every sector of life.

  • Health & Sanitation

    When a community gets clean water, disease rates can drop up to 88% overnight! Child mortality rates can drop up to 90% overnight!

  • Food Security

    With access to a nearby sustainable, safe water source, communities can grow local agriculture and better raise livestock for food security.

  • Education

    Instead of spending hours each day walking to collect water, children can now go to school and get an education.

  • Economic Development

    Women who no longer have to walk miles to fetch water every day can secure jobs and provide for their families.

Fund Your Own Well and Change a Village Forever.

You will receive project and community information, GPS coordinates of your well, photos of your well and the community, and a personalized “Thank You” video from the community members to you, by name, showing the water source that the community used to be forced to rely on, the community itself, and the exact well that you funded.