Water and hygiene

When drinking water makes you ill

Over two billion people have no clean water to drink. More than half the world’s population have no access to sanitary facilities, such as toilets or latrines, and two billion have no access to clean water. This is dangerous and causes diarrhoea, dermatitis, eye diseases and parasites. Millions of people, especially children, die every year from these diseases.

Access to water is often non-existent

In rural regions of poorer countries, people either get their drinking water from dirty ponds or rivers, or they have to carry it from distant wells or other sources. Sometimes the wells are even contaminated with natural toxins, such as arsenic in Bangladesh. There is often a lack of toilets, which also leads to a contaminated water supply in many places.

Human development in danger

Clean water and sanitary facilities are vital not only to health, but to human life in general. Clean water has an impact on economic growth, educational opportunities, the environment and human development as a whole.

The SRC runs long-term water and hygiene projects in 14 countries. We help the local population build wells and water collection tanks. We provide simple outhouse latrines to improve local hygiene. We improve irrigation of vegetable gardens and support the introduction of filter and decontamination systems for clean water.

We adopt a holistic approach: as we expand the water supply and waste water facilities, we promote better hygiene.

Water

Our projects distinguish between drinking water and waste water. We want to make more, better water available, because this has a major impact on health. We work hard to reduce pollution, waste and the discharge of hazardous chemicals and other materials.

Sanitary facilities

We build sanitation facilities so that people no longer have to relieve themselves outside. This is important for privacy and dignity, especially for women and girls. A proper toilet also protects health, as diseases such as cholera or diarrhoea are less likely to spread.

Hygiene

By promoting good hygiene, the SRC prevents the spread of disease. One of the most effective examples is good hand hygiene. Washing hands with soap stops the spread of viruses and bacteria. And that helps contain diseases such as cholera, COVID-19 and diarrhoea.

Hygiene for women and girls

Our projects always focus on women’s needs. In many societies, the women are responsible for water-related tasks. They fetch and store water, cook, clean and look after the sanitary facilities. 

The lack of sanitary and hygiene facilities particularly affects the dignity and social development of women and girls, who have specific hygiene needs such as during menstruation.

Water and hygiene: 3 stages

Our work is divided into three stages: disaster relief, reconstruction and development cooperation. Water and hygiene play a major role in human health at every stage.

The SRC is running long-term water and hygiene projects in 17 countries.