Only two and a half percent of the planet’s fresh water supply is suitable for drinking.
Twelve per cent of the world’s population uses eighty-five percent of its water and 1.2 billion people in the developing world are denied adequate access to clean drinking water. The lack of proper water sanitation measures within developing countries has resulted in 250 million water related diseases and 5–10 million deaths annually, having a serious social and economic influence on the populations.
According to UNICEF, lack of access to safe water is having a disastrous impact on children across the world.
Reasons for this include shortage of water, poverty, and lack of education about the impact of drinking unpurified water. Nearly 2.2 million children die annually from waterborne diseases. The World Health Organization estimates that at any given moment, approximately one half of all people in the developing world are suffering from one or more of six primary diseases caused by poor water supply and suboptimal sanitation, that would have otherwise been easily prevented through proper sanitation measures.
While economic conditions in developing nations have the opportunity to improve through the proper investment in water sanitation, multinational corporations are impeding on these countries progress towards self-sufficiency by privatizing water resources. While privatization has the capability to improve water sanitation for the public good, most companies buy up water rights and increase costs, forcing citizens to return to polluted water sources infested with disease and pollutants. Instead of the water rights being under the control of those who depend on the resource, the corporation manages the water and can also drastically increase water tariffs. That is why villages and families auto-sufficiency in water access is a reliable and necessary solution.
Water filters have a direct impact on social and economic development
A simple water purification system would not only improve health conditions within local communities, but a proper storage of any excess water would reduce the time and energy expenditures necessary for water collection. Time that was once spent retrieving water could then be allocated towards more productive activities, such as working, food production, and caring for children, boosting the income, nutrition, and health of the household.
Our proposed solution to this problem involves production of a low cost and effective water filter, which requires no electricity or extra cost. Besides being sustainable, it is environmentally friendly and easy to be implemented. The system eliminates bacteria, cysts, parasites and removes other common surface and groundwater pollutants. It does not require extra equipment to store pure water.
Water is life and water is priceless
Everyone should have access to clean water, it is a fundamental Human Right!
Support us and help us to give access to clean water to remote areas of Indonesia supplying water filters and teaching the communities about the importance of access to clean water and basic hygiene. At the same time, allowing them to distribute water filters in the villages around, generating new income for their families and therefore, improving livelihood and well-being.
Social Impakt is a Social Enterprise created in 2014 by Dutch Entrepreneur Jeroen van Overbeek, whose aim is to improve access to clean water in rural Indonesia.
