Safe Water: Inside a cup of life
"It is We Who send down water from the sky in (due) measure, and We revive a dead land therewith." - Qur'an 43:11
1.1 billion people lack access to an improved water supply - that is approximately one in six people on earth.
It's easy to forget how much we need safe water. This is the essential of life which over a billion people are denied access to.
Somebody will die from drinking dirty water by the time you finish reading this. Safe water saves lives. Do your part.For over a billion people, life's most pressing challenge is gaining easy access to safe, clean drinking water. Poor health due to unclean water and conflict surrounding scarce water sources prevents many from escaping the poverty trap.
At MH we take a comprehensive approach to safe water projects. We combine issues like tackling lack of water and sanitation with health education programmes to teach people about the many dangers of drinking and cooking with unclean water- even having children play around areas with dirty water can be a danger.
Our combined approach means when we install wells, water storage tanks or water filtration units, we also install sanitation facilities and our medical teams provide hygiene education programmes.
- 97% of water is in the oceans
- 2% frozen in the polar ice caps
- 1% is what we drink and wash with- that is, after we've shared it with the streams, rivers, reservoirs, lakes, aquifers, and the atmosphere.
The trivia stops here however as the question of how fair our access to that 1% of the world's water doesn't paint such a fun picture.
With over a billion people either drinking contaminated water or nothing at all, sickness, long term illness, the debilitation of entire communities and death soon follow in the trail of where dirty water once flowed.
Different approaches to providing safe water
Safe water works on many different levels and is about more than having a tap of running water on demand. If you have clean water, but the cups you drink from are dirty, how clean can your water really be? Similarly, if you don't have hygienic toilet facilities- flies usually transmit bacteria from open human waste straight to your food which causes illness and spreads infections.
Where no sewer facilities exist, children often play alongside have sewage and waste which carry water-borne diseases. Our holistic water scheme costs just £375 and covers all these bases. A family will receive a tube well which will provide a supply of clean water to use for drinking, washing and cooking. The tube well will also serve neighbouring families so many benefit from the single well.
The water scheme also includes a latrine which can be used by many people- especially where there is little access to clean toilet facilities. This greatly reduces the spread of disease and ensures hygienic disposal of waste.
MH also provide tree saplings which, when planted, improve the soil quality for families who rely on farming and agriculture.
MH also advises families with simple tips and techniques they can use to make the most of their water supply and ensure their safe and complete relationship with water for life. The combined water and sanitation schemes are running in Sri Lanka and Kashmir.
Tube WellsA single tube well will serve 2-3 families with water to drink, wash and cook for at least 10 years. Tube wells are manually operated and lift filtered water up to about 100 feet beneath the ground with minimal maintenance. We have tube wells projects running throughout Pakistan, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Dig a wellOur dig-a-well programme serves larger groups of people, from schools to masjids. These are bigger installations where 25-30 families can benefit from a single well. With projects currently running Afghanistan and Kashmir, dig-a-well is providing many communities with a fresh and clean supply of safe water.
Ground water wells
Ground water wells are ideal for families who rely on agriculture and farming. The water wells have mechanical hand pumps and go up to 35 meters deep underground. The wells have mechanical hand pumps to draw water and are invaluable resources for communities who depend on agriculture and farming. Each well serves over 300 families and their livestock and many have been built in Sudan, Senegal and The Gambia.
Underground storage tanksThere are times where water storage is just as important as accessing water itself. Our underground water storage tanks hold water for communities to use for their daily needs. Constructed using bricks and cement, these tanks are built in areas where the water table is too low and are filled on a regularly basis by mobile water tankers. Underground storage tanks have been constructed in Sudan.
Mobile water tankersSometimes access to water requires people to physically transport water to remote or isolated locations. Our mobile water tankers provide water to far flung areas where water table is too low to install wells and so communities rely on these tankers for water to use for the most basic needs of drinking and washing. Once the mobile water tanker has reached an area, they fill the underground water tanks on a regular basis so people can rely on a reserve store of water. Mobile water tankers cost up to B#25,000 and this project is running in Sudan.
| Type of Project | Cost | Location |
| Tube Well/Hand Pump | £160 | Pakistan, India, Nepal & Bangladesh |
| Combined Water & Sanitation | £375 | Sri Lanka & Kashmir |
| Dig A Well | £550 | Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Balujistan, Pakistan, Niger, Kashmir |
| Ground Water Well | £1750 | Sudan, Senegal & The Gambia |
| Underground Water Storage Tank | £2000 | Sudan |
| Agricultural Wells | £3500+ | Palestine & Lebanon |
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