Take Action to Bring Clean Water to the Poor

Its budget season in Washington, an opportunity to help shape how the U.S. will spend millions and sometimes billions of funds to improve the lives of the poor around the world.

Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation can have the most profound impact on improving lives and preventing disease, allowing people to focus on other issues like getting their children to school, growing food and doing other daily tasks.

Please take a moment to call upon Congress to increase funding for safe water and sanitation programs which promote health and healthy ecosystems.  Here is a story from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) about how investing in clean water can make a real difference in people’s lives.

Success Story: Indonesia Environmental Services Program

The USAID/Indonesia Environmental Services Program is a $47 million program that works with water to address the linkages among environmental health, water resource protection, biodiversity conservation and critical land rehabilitation with public health issues of diarrhea prevention and increased access to clean water and sanitation services as key focal areas.

The Indonesia Environmental Services Program is making a difference. In just three years the program has achieved a number of outcomes, including:

• 13,092 hectares of critical land rehabilitated
• 152 community groups practicing improved natural resources management
• 61,479 households or 249,660 individuals with increased access to clean water
• 25,231 people trained in effective hand washing with soap

USAID also has programs to manage water bodies that cross international boundaries, protect watersheds from pollution, promote water conservation and health and hygiene education.  This valuable work needs more resources and our leaders need to hear from you, so join NRDC’s message to Congress and if you have a story about how safe drinking water and sanitation improves lives please post it here.