Clean Water and Sanitation

The Caterpillar Foundation, together with its global partners, launched the Value of Water campaign to raise awareness of the value of water and the impact of the global water crisis on community health, education and economics.

The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), along with Nalco Water, an Ecolab company, today launched their CEO Water Alliance (CEWA) Initiative in New Delhi, which aims to bring together CEOs and other stakeholders to address the water crisis in India and create proactive measures that will promote sustainable usage of water.

Xylem Inc., a global water technology leader, today called on the public and private sectors to work together to improve the collection and sharing of water data on this, World Water Day 2018. Despite dramatic improvements in big data collection and the application of that intelligence, the amount of on-the-ground data about water has been declining over the past 40 years. Since 1979, the number of stations reporting streamflow data has plummeted 40 percent, while the number of those reporting precipitation data is down by 30 percent.

With climate change and water scarcity threatening countries around the world, we need global water data more than ever. Unfortunately, Xylem’s new research reveals that the world is actually collecting and sharing less water data from on-site sensors. A lot less.

This means governments and leaders are making decisions in the dark. Let’s make smarter decisions based on facts. Learn about this problem and what we can do to fix it.

March 22 is World Water Day, a United Nations-led initiative bringing attention to the importance of universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene. An annual occurrence, the theme for World Water Day in 2018 is “Nature for Water,” which explores nature-based solutions to the water challenges we face in the 21st century. Efforts such as planting trees to replenish forests, restoring wetlands and reconnecting rivers to floodplains are sustainable, cost-effective ways to mitigate the effects of climate change – thereby improving human health.

To spotlight the global environmental and economic challenges caused by harmful algal blooms in fresh waterbodies, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation today released a three-part docuseries with National Geographic photographer Andy Mann, coinciding with World Water Day.

When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, it launched a devastating, ongoing humanitarian crisis. Government agencies stepped in, supported by the Red Cross, NGOs and community organizations, to meet the needs of thousands of people left without food, shelter, clean water, or basic supplies. A team of Avery Dennison employees also stepped up, collecting 176 boxes of water, canned food and medicine to be sent to people in need.

Planet Water Foundation, a leading non-profit organization that addresses global water poverty by delivering clean water access and hygiene education programs, will deploy 24 community-based AquaTowers in 24 hours during Project 24 on March 22 — World Water Day. Now in its fourth year, Project 24 is recognized as an important event platform that raises awareness of the global water crisis by mobilizing leading companies and citizens to deliver clean, safe water and hygiene education programs in 24 communities. This year, the event takes place in communities within Cambodia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Puerto Rico.

The City of Lakewood, California, hired Tetra Tech to design a new stormwater capture project that will improve water quality in the Los Cerritos Channel by removing pollutants conveyed within stormwater. The project consists of an air-inflated rubber dam diversion system to re-direct all runoff from the channel through a pre-treatment system to remove trash, debris, and sediment.