WaterAid

WaterAid is the UK’s only major charity dedicated exclusively to the provision of safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education to the world’s poorest people. These most basic services are essential to life; without them vulnerable communities are trapped in the stranglehold of disease and poverty.

WaterAid works by helping local organisations set up low cost, sustainable projects using appropriate technology that can be managed by the community itself. WaterAid also seeks to influence the policies of other key organisations, such as governments, to secure and protect the right of poor people to safe, affordable water and sanitation services.

Water Aid work hard to provide new water wells to remote, often small, villages across Africa & India.

WaterAid is independent and relies heavily on voluntary support. Lions Clubs in MD 105 have supported WaterAid’s vision with vigour and dedication for many years by fundraising for vital and life changing work in Africa and Asia. From April 2003 to March 2004 Lions Clubs in multiple district raised a fantastic £71,000 with all Lions Clubs donations being channelled into WaterAid’s programme in Malawi.

WaterAid Facts

• 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe water, this is roughly one sixth of the world’s population.
• 2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is roughly two fifths of the world’s population.
• 1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day. The simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40%. (British Medical Journal)
• Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after
  acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis.
• Water and sanitation infrastructure helps people take the first essential step out
  of the cycle of poverty and disease.
  The average European uses 200 litres of water every day. North Americans
  use 400 litres.
• The average person in the developing world uses 10 litres of water every day for their drinking, washing
• and cooking. (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC))
• On current trends over the next 20 years humans will use 40% more water than they do now.

What are the Lions doing?

All of the Lions Clubs (including Haywards Heath Lions Club) have supported WaterAid for more than 30 years, raising almost £1.5 million and helping to make lasting changes for millions of people by making clean water and decent toilets a normal part of daily life.

In 2018 Lions Clubs raised over £10,000 for WaterAid’s Untapped Appeal, helping to create momentous change in communities like Tombohuaun in Sierra Leone.

Lions Clubs have a long standing partnership with the Water Aid charity and we’re proud to share their vision of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.