All over the world, children and women walk miles each day to retrieve water to take back to their homes. Many schools do not have safe or sanitary facilities.
Clean water and sanitation projects are a priority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Working with reputable organizations around the world, the Church has helped restore water systems, dig boreholes and build and deepen wells. Training is then provided to empower the residents to take ownership of the water systems and keep them maintained and operating.
The 2022 annual Caring for Those in Need report showed that last year the Church participated in 156 clean water projects around the world. Below are some examples of these efforts from 2022 and the first few months of 2023.
Africa and the Middle East
• The Church and Water for People are working with the government of Rwanda to install water systems in Gicumbi District.
• In Liberia this year, the Church and WaterAid have provided sustainable access to safe water to 15 communities.
• Ten new wells from WaterAid with funding from the Church are helping the country of Eswatini, bordering South Africa.
• In February 2023, the Church presented a new water well to the Mother of Hope Catholic congregation in the village of Tshilumba in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And this month, the Church drilled two new boreholes in a neighborhood near Kinshasa in the same country.
• One of the largest safe water initiatives in the Africa West Area was completed last September in Ghana. Four communities received public toilets and mechanized boreholes.
• Meanwhile, a project that began in 2022 means 15,000 people in the drought-stricken Kurdistan region of Iraq have access to clean water.
Asia and the Pacific
• In Pakistan, 50,000 people in 15 communities received water filtration systems following record-breaking floods. In Pakistan’s Khanewal province, 45 government schools were provided washrooms and new sanitation facilities.
• The Church is helping fund a two-year project in rural Tajikistan, working with Catholic relief agency Caritas to restore and expand two water supply systems and improve sanitary facilities in schools.
• In Papua New Guinea, the Church and WaterAid are building water, sanitation and hygiene systems in schools in the Kairuku-Hiri District.
South America, Central America and the Caribbean
• Two water wells were installed in August 2022 in the Chiclayo province of Peru, allowing families to have a water supply in their homes.
• In February 2023, the Church donated water purification systems in Mexico. And a project in the Dominican Republic provided clean water access to 11,000 people in the small town of Chirino.
• With the support of the Church, WaterAid found a way through traditional art forms painted on water systems to provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene to the Wayuu people of Colombia.
• In Panama, the Church worked with Solea Water to install drinking water systems in the Emberá-Wounaan region last June. The Church again joined with Solea Water this March to bring drinking water to another community in Panama, benefiting 220 families.
