Water and Sanitation Projects-Making a Differerence

Posted by Jim Dunny on Apr 28, 2019

Projects to help people in Third World countries have access to clean water and also have access to proper sanitation have been a consistent part of the focus of the Rotary Foundation for years. However, in assessing the impact of past programs, Rotary found that too often the projects lacked provision for maintaining the water projects so that after a few years, the pumps and other equipment required for safe water availability became unusable. This lack of planning for sustainability resulted in past efforts being unsuccessful in improving access to safe water for the long term.

In about 2010, the Rotary Foundation shifted focus on the approval of water and sanitation projects to require that provisions be made in the design of projects to fund not only the initial equipment, but also fund training for operation of the equipment and funding for repair parts and expendable supplies such as filters. In this way these projects can have success in providing safe water for a long term.

The Rotary Foundation and Rotarians are making a difference through these efforts to sustainability of projects. To read a more in depth article about Rotary's efforts in the area of safe water and proper sanitation and the impact on the health, go to Fluid Approach to Water