World Water Day

It’s easy to take the most basic necessities for granted. Clothes to wear. A place to live. Three meals a day. Clean accessible water to drink.

Water is one of the fundamental, if not the most essential, elements of life. All forms of life require water to establish and maintain life. Plants need it to grow. It’s an overly abundant resource in the United States, for the most part (California appears to be on the mend, thanks in part to a soggy El Niño winter); many of us freely wash our cars, water our lawns, bathe and launder our clothes with little regard for such a seemingly endless and readily available supply.

But we all know that’s not the case for everyone. That’s why it’s a good reminder today – March 22 is World Water Day – that others need our help. And that’s also why a group of Atlas Copco employees established Water For All in Sweden, deciding in 1984 to do something about it. This non-profit organization established projects in developing countries to help make sure everyone has greater access to our planet’s greatest resource. Consider these harrowing facts:

• Around 650 million people still don’t have access to clean water;

• More than 2 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation;

• Each day, nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrheal diseases;

• More people die from dirty water and poor sanitary conditions, than through war and violence;

• Our planet has enough fresh water for everyone

Today, more than 30 years later, the thousands of members of the Atlas Copco family have helped close to 2 million people gain access to clean drinking water and sanitation, with local Water for All representation in more than 40 countries. Here’s how it works:

1. Willing employees within the Atlas Copco Group in a particular country establish a local Water for All organization and facilitate voluntary donations, preferably through payroll, which are then doubled by the company.
2. The local Water for All organization investigates and selects the water project they want to support and then contributes their locally raised funds to it.
3. Water for All is available as support in the background, and the project is managed by partner organizations specialized in water-project management.
4. These partner organizations ensure that the project is implemented. They are also responsible for training and organizing local people to use and maintain the new water source.
5. The project could involve drilling or digging a well or protecting natural water resources. It could also be building a system to collect rainwater, constructing basic water systems for villages or homes or building sanitation or sewer systems.
6. The results of the project are reported back to the local Water for All organization.

Water For All has made a huge difference, but there’s still so much more to do. Without water there is no life. Learn more about how you can support Atlas Copco’s Water For Life initiative here, and let us know what your company does to help others in the comment section below.