Water For People

Water For People, founded in 1991 by the American Water Works Association (AWWA), is a nonprofit international development organization, which 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 believes that access to safe drinking water and effective sanitation are basic human rights.

The vision of Water For People is a world where all people have access to safe drinking water and sanitation, a world where no one suffers or dies from a water- or sanitation-related disease. Around the world, 884 million people do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion are without adequate sanitation facilities. Every day, nearly 6,000 people die from water-related illnesses, and the vast majority are children. Other failures include broken pumps and filled latrines.

Water For People promotes lasting programs that examine entire districts and regions rather than households and villages. In this way, not only do people benefit for a long period, but organizations don’t have to expend time and energy going back to the same location. Water For People has established a year-round presence in seven developing countries, including Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Malawi, Nicaragua, and Rwanda, and will be expanding into the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, and Uganda.

Water For People partners with local governments, the private sector, and other trusted nongovernmental organizations to support their work.