Clean Water for Life

Giving water really does give life because when you help someone have access to clean water, you’re also helping them to improve their health, farming, education and income. Your gift will assist a community to create a sand dam.

What is a sand dam?  Sand dams are human-made reinforced concrete structures placed across seasonal riverbeds at critical points. Sand dams are meant not to hold back water directly, but sand, which helps store water beneath it and protects it from evaporation. As the river water naturally flows over the dam each rainy season, the walls retain sand and silt, which in turn, hold more water than the riverbed could on its own.

The sand retained behind the dam helps raise the water table in the immediate area, meaning wells built in the same community fill with water at shallower and more consistent levels.

The entire landscape around sand dams also benefits, changing dry and sandy riverbanks to lush spaces full of plants and animals that mutually thrive in the wetter environment.