Helping communities without water

Yet across the globe, 650million people live without access to a safe water supply. Around 2.3billion - one-in-three of the world’s population - don’t have access to adequate sanitation and more than 500,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation: that’s more than 1,400 children a day.

In Africa, half of young girls who drop out of school do so because they need to collect water or because the school hasn’t got a basic toilet. The lack of a lavatory makes women and girls vulnerable as they wait until late at night to walk to the edge of their village to relieve themselves. When women menstruate they cannot manage it hygienically and with dignity as we are able to in the developed world.

A lack of clean water stops women from working and traps people in poverty.

In the year to April 2015, staff, partners and customers of Yorkshire Water (YW) have helped to raise more than £270,000 for the international charity WaterAid to help tackle this issue. By 2019, they will have raised £1million.

They efforts as volunteers are helping to transform the lives of communities in Ethiopia, where its current fundraising efforts are focused.

“In the past WaterAid has not been able to say exactly where the money raised in Yorkshire would go, but because of the level of commitment we have worked hard with the charity to identify specific towns and villages in the country where the money will be spent”, says YW’s operational change manger Erica Lack. “If people raised funds through, for instance a cake sale, we wanted to be able to say it has helped this project in this village.”

She adds: “Access to water and sanitation is fundamental. Every access of people’s lives is impacted by the fact that they don’t have clean water or a safe toilet. It is not only having to collect water, and the risk of disease from water, women cannot attend school because they don’t have time”

The problems intensify if a woman has a baby or young child to rear.

YW staff member Anna Warrington travelled to Bishoftu, in central Ethipoia, south-east of the capital Addis Ababa.

The team visited a site earmarked for work by WaterAid, where the water quality scientist was shocked by what she saw. “It was really grim. There was a block of eight toilets in two blocks. One was crumbling down and the other was partially flooded with two inches of water on the floor. The toilet was a hole in the ground.”

The area was not as arid as Anna had expected. “I thought that it would be a lot more like a desert with no water, but it was quite lush. There was sufficient water but so much was lost through leakage, with between 60 and 70 per cent unaccounted for bursts in pipes and illegal use.”

Supplies were often shared between families. “There may be a supply pipe in someone’s garden, which would be shared between eight families,” says Anna. “There were water fountains in the street too, where we saw people collecting in big yellow drums. Women were carrying big, heavy tubs on their heads.”

Women carry containers weighing around 20kg. “They carry the weight of a full suitcase,” says Erica, “The strength of these people mentally and emotionally is immense when they are struggling with everyday basics. “

Anna was then taken to a site where work had been carried out. A cafe powered by sustainable bio-gas energy had been built.

“It has clean toilets and showers and toilet waste from the toilets is sent to a large tank underground where the energy is created,” she says. “So for not a large amount of money local people can use clean, safe toilets, in one place.”

“I saw a disabled man who could not get to the communal toilets so the family had clubbed together and built one, along with a shower, in the back yard, for him to use.”

She adds: “When you see the toilets where no work has been done you would not want to go near. There is not really any drainage - it just goes straight on to the land - and there are no washing facilities so you cannot wash your hands after visiting the toilet.

“In some areas it is particularly dangerous for women to go to the communal toilet as they could get attacked on the way. WaterAid toilets are built in safer location.”

Anna is now able to give talks about her experiences to schools and communities.

Around £15 is enough to provide clean water for someone for life. So far, YW’s fundraising has helped around 18,000 people.

YW raises funds through a variety of activities, such as the WaterAid lottery, payroll giving, a text-to-donate campaign, a water cycle challenge, the annual 10K run, the company’s family fun day and the World Toilet Day quiz.

In the last year the company also launched its ‘Big Wish for Ethiopia’ campaign which aims to raise £1million to deliver clean water and safe toilets to 130,000 households and provide further support to 20 towns across the country over the next five years.

Erica also witnessed how difficult it can be for communities on a trip in 2013 to India. “They get up before sunrise and make two or three trips every day, queuing each time for water. It impacts upon women as it is not seen as a man’s role. WaterAid is trying to improve the social standing of women.”

Richard Flint, Chief Executive Officer of Yorkshire Water says,"Through six key areas including: volunteering, education, fundraising, campaigning, capacity building and increased public awareness, we believe we can help to deliver real change. And with your help, we hope our Yorkshire community can transform the lives of many families across Ethiopia for the better. Thank you for your support."

*wateraid.org/uk