Red Cross Water Saves Lives Worldwide

Written by Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, RedCross.org

March 22, 2001 —  Droughts cause an obvious need for water, but other disasters, such as earthquakes, cyclones, even floods, also can drastically impact a country's potable water supply. In developed countries like the United States, clean drinking water is often taken for granted, even during times of disaster when bottled water is readily available. However, in less developed countries, water is almost always the most pressing need, not only in the wake of a disaster. To restore or create clean, safe drinking water supplies in the developing world, international assistance is often necessary.

A Nicaraguan boy drinks from an American Red Cross-donated spout in Nicaragua.

"Whether an international crisis is caused by natural disaster or civil unrest, vulnerable populations often lack access to safe drinking water," said Matthew Chico, regional manager for Latin America and the Caribbean basin with the American Red Cross. "To meet this need, international relief organizations like the Red Cross, distribute potable water immediately following a disaster and conduct campaigns to promote sound hygiene practices. In doing so, we prevent outbreaks of water-borne disease."

When disaster occurs abroad, the American Red Cross offers water, water containers, water purification tools and filters as part of an emergency assistance package. To help affected communities recover, the organization often provides a more long-term solution, replacing wrecked wells, water systems or latrines and educating disaster victims about safe hygiene practices.

From the Field

An American Red Cross delegate reflects on the ability of a small Guatemalan community to create, develop and maintain its own permanent water supply. In the United States, where water is plentiful, it's difficult to imagine life without it. However, in Guatemala, Red Cross delegate Geno Teofilo has found a drastically different situation.  more...

Following a 1995 war in Azerbaijan, the Red Cross designed water treatment facilities that are still used by thousands of families today. After a 1998 tsunami devastated coastal communities in Papua New Guinea, the Red Cross provided financial assistance for a water engineer to bring safe water to villages being built out of harm's way.

Between 1999 and 2000, the American Red Cross spent more than $16.2 million on water and sanitation programs for more than 375,000 people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Kosovo, Kenya and Mozambique.

In Kosovo, the American Red Cross is bringing clean water to an area identified by the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) as Europe's most vulnerable to waterborne disease. "The potential is very real," said Paul Federspiel, a water sanitation delegate in Kosovo with the American Red Cross. The Red Cross is funding a 1 million-liter reservoir that will provide water for some 50,000 residents while the Swiss Agency of Development and Cooperation (SADC) repairs the old one. Eventually, the water treatment plant for the city of Gnjilane/Gjilan, which suffers from frequent water shortages, will triple its water volume. The American Red Cross also is helping three smaller communities repair or build new water systems.

The American Red Cross is providing clean water to war-torn Kosovo.

Red Cross help comes at a crucial time for Kosovo, whose infrastructure was wrecked by war or in disrepair after years of neglect. "The more you can do to ease the burdens in a place that has been under stress, the greater chance you have to build toward a peaceful, healthy society," Federspiel said.

Despite efforts by the American Red Cross and other organizations, the worldwide health crisis caused by unsafe water continues to proliferate. Population growth and the failure of communities to upkeep water systems donated by outsiders are viewed as contributing to this failure.

Today is World Water Day, Click Here to Learn More from DisasterRelief.org

One critical factor in ensuring the success of a water sanitation project is to build a system that can be maintained, said Francois de la Roche, manager of the Americas region for the American Red Cross. Community members must be able to maintain it with available equipment and purchase spare parts locally, he said. In Kenya's drought-prone Keiro Valley, the American Red Cross has provided "gravity fed water systems" because reliable power is unavailable.

In the drought-prone Keiro Valley in Kenya, women gather water from an American Red Cross well.

Simple and inexpensive measures such as improving water quality in the home and hygiene education could help millions in the developing world, WHO reports. Simply using soap and water to wash hands can reduce deaths from diarrhea – one of the leading causes of childhood deaths due to poor water quality and sanitation – by up to 35 percent, WHO reported. WHO recommends integrating water management and community involvement to solve this growing problem.

The Red Cross applies these strategies to its water and sanitation projects. For example, to ensure that a community will maintain a well, it is important to involve members in digging the hole, de la Roche said. It also is important to train community members to make regular repairs and manage its use, he added.

"In our programs in Central America, we involve the community right from the start," de la Roche said. "That way, they understand what the system is going to do and how they have to maintain it."

Related articles:

• Cholera Spreads Through South Africa Townships
• Flooding Grows Worse in Malawi, Mozambique
• Red Cross Brings Lessons, Laughs to Flood-Stricken Mozambique
• Kenya's Keiro Valley Parched by Drought