Giving Compass' Take:

· Eleanor Allen, CEO of Water For People, explains how water and sanitation are key components in building the foundation for sustainable development.

· How can you support efforts making water and sanitation globally accessible?

· Learn more about global water supply and access.

Water For People‘s goal is clear and ambitious: lasting quality water services for every family, clinic and school—forever. When people have access to clean water all the time, their lives change dramatically. And when entire regions and countries have reliable water services, the world changes.

Water For People has reached over 3.3 million people since 2011 with sustainable water services, and continues to expand access for millions more in need.  Globally, some 2.2 billion people still lack safe drinking water. Water For People’s CEO Eleanor Allen is a professional engineer and a global water expert. Prior to leading a global nonprofit, Eleanor led global urban infrastructure design teams. She grew up proximate to water in Michigan, near Lake St. Clair in the Great Lakes region, so water runs deep in her personal history and continues to motivate her today.

Scope of the problem
The problem we’re working to solve at Water For People is very big, but it doesn’t need to be. There are still 2.2 billion people in the world—close to one quarter of the global population—that don’t have access to safe water. More than half of people don’t have access to a toilet or proper sanitation. Having these basic services is something that most of us don’t even think about because they are invisible to us—always there. Yet billions of people wonder every day where they will get their water or where they’ll go to the bathroom.

Read the full article about water and sanitation by Eleanor Allen at the Skoll Foundation.