Water with the aid of gravity

Barney Jopson looks at how WaterAid is easing the burden of water collection in Nepal

The Financial Times has selected WaterAid, which helps some of the world’s poorest people get access to safe water and sanitation, for its 2008 seasonal charity appeal to readers. The seasonal appeal, which runs from November to mid-January, raised over £2.2m in the last two years for Camfed International, which supports the education of girls in Africa.
WaterAid estimates that over 1bn people do not have access to safe water while over 2.5bn lack adequate sanitation – many of them in urban slums. The organisation helps communities set up and manage their own water and sanitation systems.

Barney Jopson looks at how WaterAid is easing the burden of water collection in Nepal
Sinking a well in a remote corner of southern Ethiopia will mean local villagers will again be able to wash their clothes and bodies – but first they have to build a road
The FT’s seasonal appeal last year has helped WaterAid reach 1.14m people with safe water and more than 2m people with sanitation
A total of 1,461 donations were made, with the highest being $25,000 from the Prem Rawat Foundation. The charity works in 17 countries helping poor people gain access to safe drinking water and sanitation
Barbara Frost expresses gratitude to the supporters of the FT’s seasonal appeal, which has raised £144,000 for the charity, enabling it to provide nearly 10,000 people with safe water for life
Through the installation of 20 flushing lavatories in Ghanaian slums, WaterAid is improving the quality of health and sanitation for thousands of people
WaterAid, a charity which the Financial Times is supporting in its seasonal appeal, promotes ‘ecosan’ latrines in Nepal that recycle human waste in sealed tanks into organic fertiliser
Barney Jopson writes of WaterAid’s help for those who have lost their sight
The work of WaterAid, the charity being supported by the Financial Times in its seasonal appeal, is giving the women of Dhaka in Bangladesh, new-found confidence
A rainwater capture system established with the help of WaterAid, the charity, is helping people in land-locked Mali survive the dry seasons and ever-more-frequent droughts
The desire of Nepal’s people for equal opportunities and rights drove the past decade of tumult and terror, say the Maoists who waged an insurgency in the Himalayan country
Many of the desperately poor in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, are forced to buy water from private sellers. But WaterAid is working to change policy and extend public access
The World Health Organisation estimated this year that better water and sanitation could prevent 6 per cent of all deaths, both of children and adults
The Financial Times has selected WaterAid, which helps some of the world’s poorest people get access to safe water and sanitation, for its 2008 seasonal charity appeal to readers
View a selection of videos that reveal the work the charity is doing to aid the world’s poorest people