The Water Project, Inc. is a charity dedicated to helping provide clean, safe water to those who suffer needlessly without it.
You can help! Join us. Learn about the water crisis and how you can get involved.
Water & Health »
Dirty water makes people sick. Hospitals and medical clinics can't help without it. Learn about how health is linked to clean water.
Water & Education »
If you're sick, you can't go school. If you're too busy fetching water, you can't study. Safe water helps students achieve more. Discover how.
Water & Hunger »
It's easy to forget that without access to water, it's much harder to grow food. Find out how a well can free a family from the worry of hunger.
Water & Poverty »
Without food to eat, an education and decent health, poverty is inevitable. Read about the link between water and poverty, and how to help.
Every donation to The Water Project is linked to a specific project, no matter how much you give. But, if you'd like to sponsor an entire project on your own, or with your school or church, we want to help!
One of the best ways to help is to rally your friends and family. And we're making that easy. Setup your own page in minutes. Celebrate a birthday, run a race.
Find a group of friends. Commit to a two-week challenge. We'll provide all the resources you need, for free. You bring the will power. Together, we'll change lives.
Interested in getting your church involved? Learn how you can help organize your team.
Individuals, small groups, schools and families all around the world are helping fund new water wells and other water projects. You can too!
We've built the tools you need to make a real impact. Jump in today. We need your voice.
See what happpens when water comes to village.
Watch as potential is unlocked and hope is restored.
You can reach us via email at:
info (at) thewaterproject.org
Our Mailing Address:
The Water Project, Inc.
PO Box 3353
Concord, NH 03302
Our Offices:
4 Bicentennial Square
3rd Floor
Concord, NH 03301
Tel +1 704-918-1804
Fax +1 704-200-9812
Our unique system let's you track your donation to a specific project. You'll follow it from construction, to water flowing, and into the future as we check up on it.
We prove it all with maps, pictures and stories from the community you support, connecting you to the people you help.
Our team, serving locally this Christmas at a food bank here in Concord.
We have big plans for 2013 and we need your help to make them happen.
Would you take a moment to read this important letter from our founder and consider how you’ll join us?
We can’t help but smile when we see these amazing women from Delta Sigma Theta! Over 100 people participated at the Harford County Alumnae Chapter’s (DST-HCAC) annual Walk On Water 5K this past July, and the pictures tell the story. They know how to have fun while raising money for clean water!
Delta Sigma Theta is “A Sisterhood Called to Serve”. Four core principles of the sorority are Courage, Hope, Wisdom, and Strength. To-date, over ten Delta Sigma Theta chapters have donated to the clean water projects we do, raising over $15,000 when combined. For the Harford County Alumnae chapter, by hosting this community-based event, the 100 participants in Maryland are unlocking the potential of over 350 people in a community 4500 miles away in Sierra Leone. 
But one event wouldn’t do for DST-HCAC. They already have their 2013 event scheduled for June 22nd, and are beginning the planning. Are you in the Maryland area? Mark your calendar and join the team as they walk, run, and laugh to the finish-line of this fabulous 5K. Can’t join them? Support their efforts by giving to their 2013 fundraising page, here. Together we are better; and serving together we are a force.
World Water Day is a chance for us to cheer about our community (you!) and most importantly the communities we serve in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and most recently Burkina Faso.
Water is something we all share. It’s a community resource. Making sure we all have access to the 1% of the earth’s water we can actually drink will always require that we work together.
So, this World Water Day, we want to take a moment to celebrate how community makes that happen.
Over the past few years, thousands of you rallied your own local community to help provide clean, safe water to villages in Africa.
From car washes (like this one at Cashmere High in New Zealand), to bake sales, water walks, talent shows, and even teeter-tottering, you helped build a first step – access to clean, safe water.
And right now, tens of thousands of people are building on that foundation. Developing communities are using their new resource everyday – not just to survive, but to thrive and work toward an even better tomorrow – just like you do.
Without your voice, in your community, this wouldn’t be possible. So to better celebrate World Water Day, why not take a moment to invite someone new to the story?
Head over to Facebook or Twitter and post an update about what we’re doing together. Encourage your friends to “Like” or “Follow Us“.
Together we can make an even bigger impact. (For fun, for every 100 new likes we get we’ll give away a water bottle to a random follower.)
We know that the greatest accomplishments and the most exciting new ideas made possible by our work won’t simply pour out from the tap of a new well. They’ll come from the hands and minds of the people who use it.
People change everything. Clean, safe water helps make that possible.
That’s why today is most importantly a chance to celebrate the amazing communities we are privileged to partner with in countries like Kenya.
One of the most recent success stories is unfolding in Mtito Andei, a small town on the road between Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya
Here, TWP’s partner, The Africa Sand Dam Foundation, is working with the Kakai Self Help Group. The people of Kakai have organized themselves into a team comprised of 22 men and 18 women. This leadership team plays an integral role in mobilizing the rest of the community as they work to construct a sand dam and shallow well.
Sand dams are an amazing type of water project. And it’s why we’re really excited about our new partnership with ASDF.
A sand dam traps seasonal rain behind a small dam. Over time it fills with sediment (sand) which traps water. That water can be collected for drinking, but it also raises the surrounding water table making agriculture much more sustainable.
These projects help provide what is called “food security” – an assurance that what you plant you’ll be reasonably certain you can harvest. Access to water and food security can go hand and hand, and the U.N. just happens to be focused on it this World Water Day.
Sand dam full of water, just after it was completed
What we love most about these projects though, is that it’s the communities who build them. From gathering stone, to mixing concrete, building forms and putting it all together – there’s work for everyone. Your support helps pay for supplies, engineers, well pumps and training. But it’s the community that makes it happen. In the end, the size of the dam and the incredible amount of water it stores is only eclipsed by the pride of ownership the community will have.
We hope you’ll watch as we work to fund another ten of these large scale sand dam projects this year.
Maybe you’ll even want to join in too. Happy World Water Day!
Today, the World Health Organization and Unicef Joint Monitoring Program released a report that the world has met the drinking water target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
There’s no question that the latest report from the folks tracking progress of this MDG contains a lot of good news. Millions of people throughout the world have received “improved” (not necessarily clean or safe) access to water over the last decade.
Many good people have been working hard during that time to focus the world’s attention on what we know to be a foundational building block in improving people’s lives – access to clean, safe water. We’re keenly aware that without goals like these and the attention they generate, the progress we see today would likely have been far less.
So, first let’s celebrate that. A rising tide indeed floats a lot of boats.
At the same time though, let’s not get carried away in claiming “success” in meeting any goal just yet. There is far too much work left to do.
Been thinking about doing something for the first time, or even a second or third time, to help bring clean water to those in need? Boy, do we have a great date for you! Grab a pen, your iPhone, your family calendar, or your church bulletin; and mark down Thursday, March 22nd. This day is set aside each year as World Water Day (WWD), where people all over the world talk about water, and its vital importance.
WWD is no small thing! The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. Each year since 1993 people have been getting out there and making a splash in their world for clean water.
This year’s focus is Water and Food Security. Did you know that 70% of the water used in the world is used for agriculture? Growing food takes tons of water, literally! In fact, it takes about 3963 gallons of water to produce just 2 pounds of beef! So without adequate water, people can’t grow adequate food. Having access to clean, reliable water sources is important not just for drinking, bathing, and other hygiene practices, but for growing food.
Join us this year, and do something to commemorate WWD this March 22nd. Host a fundraising event like a walk for water, take the Water Challenge, run in a road-race and get sponsors, and give the gift of clean water to those who do not have it. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and re-post the news and project updates we post. Check out our Get Involved page for more ideas about how you can make this year’s World Water day a wave of success!
And invite a friend! May as well ‘make it a date’!
Tess with children in Rwanda; see the woman carrying water in the background?
In the late autumn of 2011 we started meeting via Webex each month with students from colleges and universities all over the country. Our goal? To connect them to other like-minded peers and leaders who are interested in being a part of the solution to the economic water crisis that keeps millions without access to clean, reliable water sources.
In December we began recording the calls; I tell you, this is so fun! So why bother doing the recording? So we can share news from the field, and begin to catalog conversations that others (like you) can listen to and learn from, at your leisure!
Jack, the voice from the field
For our December call we had an interview with Jack Owen, our Program Manager, where we heard about a pilot project we are beginning in Kenya with a Field Partner, Pamoja Trust. Working in informal urban settlements around Mombasa, the pilot project will establish two water kiosks, provide hygiene and sanitation training, and is expected to serve between 2500-3000 people. Listen to our chat with Jack by clicking this link, and hear more details about this project, and stories of changed lives.
What’s next in our line up of recorded topics? Keep your eyes open for topics such as ‘Time is Money Water!’ (to be recorded during our Jan. 25th call), ’Technology Spotlight’, and others. Have ideas for discussion topics? Write to us! We’d like to hear from you.
“Catch you on the radio”, as they say!
Kat Graham and Peter Chasse at "The Ripple Effect" in Los Angeles.
This past Saturday, December 10th, Kat Graham and Ian Somerhalder hosted “The Ripple Effect” in Los Angeles to benefit The Water Project. It was a beautiful evening, complete with a red carpet welcome, live and silent auctions, and presentations by the hosts and our founder, Peter Chasse.
Over 200 people turned out to show their support, including a number of Kat and Ian’s friends from the CW Network. Ms. Graham, who previously sponsored a water well through donations to her fundraising page on myWaterProject, worked with Jane Owen PR to organize every detail of the evening. She arranged sponsors, solicited gifts for the auction, and made sure everyone had an amazing time.
According to GiveBackHollywood.com, “Celebrities that attended to support the cause include Emmy Rossum, Nina Dobrev, Michael Trevino, Jenna Ushkowitz, Arielle Kebbel, Krysten Ritter, Camille Winbush, Christa B. Allen, Deborah S. Craig, Matt Lanter, Tiffany Hines, Judi Shekoni, Perez Hilton, Tamra Barney, Eddie Judge, Bianca Lawson, James Kyson Lee, and Marisa Quinn. Matthew Koma, best known for his hit “Novocaine Lips” on the Abduction soundtrack, entertained the celebrity audience.”
Throughout the evening, guests tweeted support of The Water Project and helped introduce our work to thousands of new people. We’re still tallying all the donations that have been made as a result, but we can say that many new wells and water projects will be built in 2012 thanks to Kat Graham’s Ripple Effect event. We couldn’t be more thankful!
4 Bicentennial Square - Concord, NH
Beginning on June 6th, 2011 – The Water Project, Inc is relocating our headquarters from Charlotte, NC to Concord, NH. It’s a big move and we couldn’t be happier!
We’re incredibly excited about this new opportunity to expand our operations, add some office space and welcome new folks to our team!
Our new headquarters in downtown Concord, NH will become a great place for our growing team to collaborate and get creative about solving this water crisis. (It happens to be above a coffee shop, which will certainly help too!)
From the beginning, our belief has been that partnerships and cooperation are the only way to solve the water crisis facing nearly one billion people around the world.
Vestergaard Frandsen are a Swiss company involved in the research, development, manufacture and distribution of humanitarian products. They are the guys behind the Permanet mosquito net. On their website they talk of ‘profit for a purpose’. Right now, in Western Province, Kenya they are rolling out a water filtration program intended to cover 90% of homes in just 25 days. That is 900,000 households overall, or 35,000 new filters moving out every single day! The company are investing 30m USD over ten years. Why? Because the carbon saved through filtering water rather than boiling it will be transferred into carbon credits and sold on the European market for a profit. To say this is highly ambitious is an understatement, so I hopped on a flight from Mombasa and took a closer look. (more…)
We want to send out a very special word of thanks to Datum for their very generous donation of new office furniture.
The desks and chairs have made such a difference. We’ve happily said goodbye to our old sagging folding tables and broken chairs. And our new filing system (lots more drawers!) makes things so much more efficient around here.
We couldn’t be happier or more comfortable. Thanks!!!
Datum is a designer and manufacturer of durable, American-made storage systems, office equipment and furniture. Family owned and operated since 1968, Datum offers the industry’s most extensive warranty.
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