| Please click on the question categories below to learn more about global water, sanitation and public health issues in the developing world.dated FAQ is up regularly. If you have a question and you need more information than what is provided here, please contact us at info@waterforpeople.org and we will direct your question or concerns to the right person(s).
FAQ Index
 Questions about water quality
Questions about water in the world
Questions about solutions
Questions about Water For People and its approach
Questions About Water Quality
1. What diseases are associated with water and sanitation?
2. What are the effects of poor water quality and inadequate sanitation on children?
3. I want to know about arsenic in drinking water.
4. What is drinking-water quality, and what constitutes "quality" water?
5. What are common ways of measuring water resources for conservation and future planning?
6. How much water is necessary to improve people's health?
Back to FAQ Index
Q: What diseases are associated with water and sanitation?
Many diseases are associated with water and sanitation.
• These pages give facts, statistics, treatment and prevention methods, and current outbreak
information for 25 common diseases associated with water and sanitation: Learn more
• Newly-identified/emerging diseases related to water are summarized here: Learn more
• The United States Centers for Disease Control also maintains fact sheets on water-related
diseases: Learn more
Back to Water Quality
Q: What are the effects of poor water quality and inadequate sanitation on children?
Children are more susceptible to waterborne disease and diseases of sanitation than adults.
• A fact sheet on water and children is available here: Learn more
• An informative piece on the role of schools in sanitation and water supply, with links to case
studies: Learn more
• The following is one of the case studies from the UNICEF program: Learn more
Back to Water Quality
Q: I want to know about arsenic in drinking water.
Many countries have reported health problems associated with arsenic in drinking water.
• A fact-sheet on the problem can be found here: Learn more
• The USEPA has several pages on arsenic: Learn more
Back to Water Quality
Q: What is drinking-water quality, and what constitutes “quality” water?
The World Health Organization develops international guidelines and training materials for
drinking-water quality: Learn more
Back to Water Quality
Q: What are common ways of measuring water resources for conservation and future planning?
• This is the World Health Organization's Water Resource Quality page: Learn more
• The EPA has several pages on the connection between groundwater and drinking water supply:
Learn more
Back to Water Quality
Q: How much water is necessary to improve people’s health?
This page is a summary of a much longer report (also available) on the quantity and level
of service necessary to benefit public health: Learn more
Back to Water Quality
Questions About Water in the World
1. What is the global burden of water-related disease?
2. What is the current state of the world's drinking water?
3. I'm looking for water and sanitation information on individual countries.
Back to FAQ Index
Q: What is the global burden of water-related disease?
These pages link to the results of a global study of water-borne diseases, including causes,
regional information, and intervention comparisons. Learn more
Back to Water in the World
Q: What is the current state of the world’s drinking water?
This is the joint WHO/UNICEF water supply and sanitation report for 2004: Learn more
Back to Water in the World
Q: I’m looking for water and sanitation information on individual countries.
• The World Health Organization maintains a database of it's member countries and their health
information, which can be found here: Learn more
• UNICEF also runs a thorough database: Learn more
• The United Nations Human Development Reports have a thorough collection of statistics which
can be found here: Learn more
• Text reports give a quick overview of the UNHDR statistics: Learn more
• A visualization of these statistics, along with other useful information on income distribution
in graphic format is available at: Learn more
• A regional and by-country list of ongoing water projects by the World Bank is available here,
under the In Action tab: Learn more
• The World Bank pdf files of "at-a-glance" statistics for select countries: Learn more
• Water Aid has reports available on many countries (mostly in Africa, with India and Bangladesh
also represented): Learn more
Back to Water in the World
Questions About Solutions
1. What are the Millennium Development Goals and how do they relate to water and sanitation?
2. How can the Millennium Development Goals be met?
3. What solutions are available?
5. What is Water For People doing for global sanitation and drinking water?
6. What professional organizations are working on water quality for the developing world?
Back to FAQ Index
Q: What are the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) and how do they relate to water and sanitation?
The goals are a quantitative plan to address the issues of extreme poverty.
• They are listed in brief here: Learn more
• A short explanation of the MDGs and current progress as they relate to health can be found
here: Learn more
• An interactive report on the drinking water and sanitation goals is available here: Learn more
• Facts giving the reason for the existence of the Development Goals are listed here: Learn more
• The United Nations Development Program links and coordinates global and national efforts
to meet the Development Goals. Updates on their efforts can be found here: Learn more
• The origins of the Millennium Development Goals are summarized here: Learn more
• The World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program partnership with the MGDs: Learn more
Back to Solutions
Q: How can the Millennium Development Goals be met?
"Investing in Development" is a practical plan compiled by the United Nations as a roadmap
to meeting the goals, even for the poorest countries, by 2015. The text of the plan can be
downloaded in full or as an overview from this site: Learn more
Q: What solutions are available?
Solutions should be appropriate, sustainable, and affordable. Furthermore, solutions may address social, economic, or technological aspects of the problem, and ideally should address all three:
• MaESTro is a free database of environmentally appropriate technologies.
• Overcoming Water Scarcity and Quality Constraints, from the UN Environmental Program.
• A directory of innovative solutions from the World Bank: Learn more
• A private-sector approach to addressing water and sanitation issues of the urban poor, from
the World Bank (pdf file): Learn more
• The World Health Organization has developed a network program for those with no other water
supply to store and treat water at the household level: Learn more
• The UN Environmental Program has articles addressing freshwater pollution caused by
urbanization: Learn more
• A description of appropriate private-sector-participation (PSP) from Water Aid: Learn more
• The movement to address access to clean water as a basic human right is championed by
this site: Learn more
Back to Solutions
Q: What is Water For People doing for global sanitation and drinking water?
Water For People has been in the news lately.
• Story about Water For People's work with arsenic mitigation in India: Learn more
• Story about Water For People's new monitoring program: Learn more
Back to Solutions
Q: What professional organizations are working on water quality for the developing world?
The following is a list of membership organizations that are actively working to improve the
quality of water in the developing world.
• International Water Association: Learn more (note: IWA has specialist groups relating to many
subjects, one of which is water supply for developing countries.)
• American Water Works Association
• Water Environment Federation
• Rotary International
Back to Solutions
Questions about Water For People and its approach
1. Where does Water For People work?
2. How does Water For People choose communities/projects to assist?
3. How does Water For People carry out the projects?
4. What kind of technologies are employed?
5. What is the impact of the completed projects?
6. Can I adopt a specific country or project?
7. How can I volunteer to work in a developing country?
Back to FAQ Index
Q: Where does Water For People work?
Water For People currently works in the five countries where it maintains full-time employees: Honduras, Guatemala, Bolivia, Malawi, and India. These employees know the culture, language and communities we serve. However, based on special grants and funding, we have worked in more than 40 other countries over the years but we have found that a targeted approach is more effective and efficient. In June 2007, Water For People announced that it will expand into five new countries by 2011: Ecuador, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Uganda and the Dominican Republic.
Back to Water For People
Q: How does Water For People choose communities/projects to assist?
The first factor is a clear need for an improved water supply and/or sanitation. It must be in a community in which Water For People can make a meaningful and lasting impact. There are many considerations that factor into a decision to work in a particular community, including costs, the availability of a trustworthy NGO partner, the support of local government, and a safe environment. To ensure system sustainability, Water For People requires a commitment from a beneficiary community. Every household must contribute either financially and/or in-kind labor on the project.
Water For People’s in-country coordinators carefully target specific regions (county-sized) within their countries where work will be focused. The goal is to bring 100% coverage in water and sanitation within each region, and then replicate this model in new regions.
Back to Water For People
Q: How does Water For People carry out projects?
Water For People works with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) already working in focus countries. It is also vital that the local municipalities and private-sector companies are involved in the planning, funding, and implementation of projects to ensure sustainability. The Water For People in-country coordinator connects these partners with the communities that have expressed a desire to change their lives through water resources and improved sanitation.
The community must be willing to contribute in-kind labor and funding to the entire project. Water For People believes the community must be actively involved in the planning, implementation and maintenance of their water system. Water For People requires that women are involved since they are usually carry the burden of sourcing and hauling water within their communities. Water For People does not believe in sending engineers and volunteer laborers into a community to build systems. Instead, community members are trained to build and maintain systems, and collect tariffs for ongoing operations. Water For People uses only locally available materials should repairs be needed. This ensures that community members take ownership and have the ability to keep systems operational. However, there are other ways that volunteers from North America can volunteer in-country (see below).
Back to Water For People
Q: What kind of technologies are employed?
Technologies should be appropriate and sustainable, using materials that are locally available and affordable. There are a vast range of technologies employed, depending on the community’s needs and funding. Most projects cost between $5,000 and $15,000.
Technologies might include:
- Stand pipes
- Pit latrines
- Arsenic filter systems
- Storage tanks
- Laundry stations
- Health and hygiene education
- Showers
- Hand-washing kiosks
- Gravity-fed water systems
- Shallow-wells
- Protected springs
- Chlorination
Back to Water For People
Q: What is the impact of the completed projects?
Projects impact entire communities—hundreds of people. Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation can change the economic climate because people are able to work and build businesses. Children are less likely to be ill and can attend school. Women are free from tedious water collection and are free to take care of their families and generate income. Entrepreneurs sprout up around the water project, finding creative ways to begin new businesses related to this new community asset.
Back to Water For People
Q: Can I adopt a specific country or project?
Some funding sources need to be unrestricted, meaning they are used whenever and wherever they are needed. Most Water For People committees and workplace giving contributions are unrestricted.
However, for other organizations or groups, a contribution $500 or more can be directed to work in a specific country. Contributions of more than $5,000 can be designated to a particular region. The money must be received before a region is adopted.
Back to Water For People
Q: How can I volunteer to work in a developing country?
The World Water Corps is Water For People’s new volunteer program that gives you the opportunity to travel abroad and support the organization in a very tangible way. You can share your unique skills and experience in support of the development of sustainable water resources, improved sanitation facilities, and hygiene education programs.
The World Water Corps program matches the specific needs and requirements of Water For People’s country programs with the skills of people throughout North America who want to enhance the impact of the organization’s work overseas. Volunteers are expected to pay their own travel expenses, although Water For People usually covers expenses associated with in-country travel and insurance.
Volunteers are self-nominated for short-term assignments that generally last two weeks and are placed to support key Water For People objectives in-country. World Water Corps volunteers provide professional support to Water For People’s work overseas within the parameters of its successful community-based model. As such, they are not involved in the actual design and construction of water and sanitation systems. Instead, World Water Corps volunteers engage in such activities as mapping, program monitoring, and program evaluations. Volunteers might also be called upon to assist with training, photograph Water For People at work, or provide technical assistance to partners.
Click here for more information and to apply to be a World Water Corps volunteer.
Back to Water For People
|
