What to Do During a Pandemic in a World of Water Inequality
Since the day COVID-19 arrived in your country, how many times have you washed your hands? It’s probably an impossible question. The 20-second interludes have become a part of life.…
Water.org is a global nonprofit organization working to bring water and sanitation to the world. We want to make it safe, accessible, and cost-effective.
We help people get access to safe water and sanitation through affordable financing, such as small loans. We give our everything every day to empower people in need with these life-changing resources—giving women hope, children health, and families a bright future.
The conventional approach to providing the poor with water and sanitation has left 1 billion people without safe water and 2.6 billion without sanitation.
Water.org develops technology and provides credit so that communities can build and maintain their own water and sanitation systems.
Water.org's leadership believes that financing for water and sanitation services for the poor can be both affordable and ubiquitous.
Water.org has served 1.5 million beneficiaries in six countries.
We believe water is the way to break the cycle of poverty, to protect and save lives, and to make bright futures possible. We’re here to bring water and sanitation to all. We want to make it safe, accessible, and cost-effective.
Water.org seeks to do more, faster, and in partnership with others to make financing for water and sanitation affordable and accessible. We seek systems change at all levels—local, national, and global. Our approach expands the flow of capital, addressing the most significant barrier to universal access to safe water.
CEO and Co-founder, Water.org
Gary White is co-founder and CEO of Water.org. He holds three degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Over 20 years ago, Gary watched a little girl carrying contaminated water alongside a stream of open sewage back to her shack in Honduras. At that moment, Gary decided to dedicate his life to bringing safe drinking water to people living without it and started Water.org (then known as WaterPartners [i]) shortly thereafter. Gary knew a real system change in worldwide water access would have to be demand driven. Gary points to a moment in India that left no doubt in his mind what to do. A 65-year-old woman who earned $5 per week explained to Gary that each day she defecated in an open field and had just taken a $50 loan from a loan shark at a 110 percent interest rate to build herself a toilet. Gary knew she represented the vast numbers of people who could benefit from credit directed toward water and sanitation solutions. He set out to develop demand-driven water and sanitation programs, using microfinance to leverage financial resources from the bottom-up.
[i] Water.org is the resulting organization of the July 2009 merger between WaterPartners, co-founded by White in 1990, and H2O Africa, co-founded by actor Matt Damon.
Water.org has mobilized over $3.8 billion in financing to empower 48.5 million people around the world to turn on a tap and safely use a toilet at home. With programs and people working in 11 countries, the organization is scaling and exploring new markets and solutions to help end the global water crisis.
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Her smile is truly as warm as the tea she prepares each morning to sell from her home in Mysore, Karnataka, India. Past the mint and chamomile drying in the…