May 2010

Water for People

By Cynthia Doughty
 

Around the world, 884 million people do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion are without adequate sanitation facilities.

Every day, nearly 6,000 people die from water-related illnesses, mostly children. However, Water For People [WFP] has now given the water and wastewater industry the mechanism to make meaningful change with the development of the World Water Corps^® (WWC).

Launched in 2006, the WWC is a volunteer program that gives water and wastewater professionals the opportunity to travel abroad and support the development of sustainable drinking water projects, sanitation projects and hygiene education programs.

WFP has operated in Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Malawi and India and, recently, they have expanded their operations into Ecuador, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Uganda, the Dominican Republic and Peru. 

Chris Rogers, a WWC volunteer, writes of his experiences in Rwanda:

…the sole Canadian volunteer, I had the pleasure of working with a hard-working group in February 2009. We were each assigned a student (all orphans of the genocide), local officials, and a sector in Kicukiro district. Our fieldwork exposed us to a range of miserable living conditions. Rwanda generally has a lot of water but there are extensive shortages in the dry season, and contamination is a major problem. Most of the water comes from community taps and the people use latrines that are often in horrendous condition. Water quality is unreliable, with suspected contamination from latrines and other sources. Many who can’t afford to boil their drinking water, get sick and tend to die young.

 If you are up for a challenge, WFP needs you. For more information regarding the WWC, please see our website: www.worldwatercorps.org or email: abritton@waterforpeople.org.

© Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland and Labrador