For six decades, 66-year-old Mana Laxmi Shakya has been fetching water from a spring in the Dhading district, Nepal. The journey, which Shakya undertakes two or three times each day, can take up to an hour – often there are more than 70 women queuing ahead of her at the spring. Such hardships may soon become a thing of the past as the charity WaterAid and Nepal Water for Health set up gravity flow networks in the region, from which distribution pipes feed tap stands close to people’s homes.

A man from the Amarkhu region, Dhading, Nepal, cleans himself using water from a gravity flow network, which transports water downhill from springs and streams to taps on villagers’ doorsteps – currently, there are 23 water points serving 101 households.

Women set out to make the hour’s journey from home to collect spring water in the Dhading district, Nepal.

A concrete water spout in Kathmandu. In 2004, the Nepalese government proposed abandoning such water points, but civil society groups backed by WaterAid opposed the plan, showing that poorer families would not be able to afford a household supply. The government acquiesced.

A girl from Nigalopani school takes a drink – it is not uncommon for teachers to send pupils from class to fetch water for the school’s needs.

Nofa Coulibaly, village chief of Simba East, Mali, holds a water pot. His village has access to an unprotected well – without a concrete perimeter or metal lid – but the water is often contaminated. In the hot season, the well dries up and the villagers are forced to walk to a neighbouring settlement.

Hawa Dangnan collects water at dawn, Simba East, Mali.

Ba Moussokoro, aged 92, emerges from her hut in the Tienfala village, Mali. Moussokoro lost her sight many years ago, and attributes her blindness to the work of spirits or a curse. Local health workers blame the River Niger, which carries “Onchocerca vulvus”, the larvae responsible for river blindness. Aid organisations are providing drugs to combat the larvae, and WaterAid is helping people such as Moussokoro, for whom the medicine arrived too late. The charity has set up a vegetable garden and a well for the blind in her village, as well as providing proper sanitation

Girls wash dishes in a fetid lake in Korail, Bangladesh. Korail is a slum without a water supply, and residents are forced to buy clean water from private sellers.

Women brush their teeth near the railway tracks at Ghantighar slum, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Elsewhere in Dhaka there are signs of hope: WaterAid and the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority have supplied a water point at the Zakirer slum – the pump is shared by 20 families which pay a flat fee each month for as much water as they need.