One of Healing Waters International’s distinct strengths in the safe water sector is our commitment to delivering sufficient water, often directly to people’s homes. This may seem simple, but it’s truly revolutionary for communities where water has been scarce or unreliable for generations.
When water is scarce or access is inconsistent, it places a heavy burden on families, especially women. There’s the constant stress of figuring out how to get enough, how to store it safely, and the wait for the next rainfall or next “turn” on with the shared hose. This isn’t just inconvenient, it’s exhausting and anxiety-inducing.
In a baseline survey from our recent project in Mexico (“Rosalbali”), 27% of families identified not having enough water for washing and household use as their community’s biggest water-related problem. While many might manage to get just enough for drinking (and sometimes not even that), there’s often not enough for essential daily tasks like laundry, cleaning, and bathing.
These trade-offs carry emotional and social costs. When you don’t have enough water to wash your clothes or clean your home, it affects your sense of dignity. Children may stay home from school because their uniforms aren’t clean. Parents feel ashamed when they can’t provide the basic level of care and hygiene they know is important for their family’s health and self-worth.
As we face a stretch of 100-degree days here in Denver, I think about the ways I use the abundance of water I have easy access to—showers, laundry, a clean kitchen floor. So often we reduce ideas of water to just drinking, but these other uses aren’t luxuries; they’re part of how we care for ourselves, stay healthy, and feel whole.
In fact, studies in the WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) sector show that personal hygiene and a clean home environment are often even more important for health outcomes than drinking water quality alone. Especially for young children—who are constantly on the move, touching everything, and putting fingers in their mouths—a clean environment is critical.
People in every community, no matter how remote or economically challenged, long for that same cleanliness and dignity. But when water is scarce, that desire is often met with insurmountable obstacles.
But a water system that brings abundant, safe, and accessible water to the home removes both the logistical burden and the emotional weight. It allows families to live with less stress and more dignity. It unlocks health, social participation, and opportunity.
Because access to water isn’t just about survival; it’s about flourishing.