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Bring Water Home™

At Water1st, we believe water is more than a resource — it’s a bridge to dignity, opportunity, and justice. Our work brings safe, piped water — along with toilets and hygiene education — directly into homes, clinics, schools, and community centers. By partnering with local organizations, we enable communities to plan, build, and maintain systems for the long run. The result: women and girls are liberated from the burden of water collection, households gain reliable access to health and sanitation, and communities thrive. Over 99 % of our more than 5,000 projects remain functional years later — a testament to our commitment to solutions that last.

Bring Water Home™

At Water1st, we believe water is more than a resource — it’s a bridge to dignity, opportunity, and justice. Our work brings safe, piped water — along with toilets and hygiene education — directly into homes, clinics, schools, and community centers. By partnering with local organizations, we enable communities to plan, build, and maintain systems for the long run. The result: women and girls are liberated from the burden of water collection, households gain reliable access to health and sanitation, and communities thrive. Over 99 % of our more than 5,000 projects remain functional years later — a testament to our commitment to solutions that last.

Learn More → Bring Water Home™
FOR THE
ENTIRE COMMUNITY

Household
Water

Water is piped directly to every home, school, health clinic, and community center, assuring each household receives the maximum health benefits of clean water, a toilet, and a shower. Piped water to the home ends the walk for water for women and girls. With the constant burden of water fetching and illness lifted, women can earn an income, families begin to save money, and girls can go to school.
household water mozambique
STOPS THE
SPREAD OF DISEASE

Hygiene
Education

All Water1st projects integrate piped water, toilets, and hygiene education. Studies have consistently shown that together — water, toilets, and hygiene — stop the spread of disease and save lives. When water is piped directly to the home and school, it allows for high-quality toilets and showers. Water faucets are placed in bathroom stalls for flushing, cleaning, and washing hands.
our work toilets2
EXCHANGING
KNOWLEDGE

Project
Monitoring

We routinely visit our projects to evaluate and improve our work. Rigorous oversight ensures each project is generating the best possible outcomes. You can be confident your donation is wisely spent and making a real difference in the lives of the people we serve. Considering the industry-wide project failure rate is 35-50% after five years, we know monitoring is a worthwhile investment.
our work we follow up

Report

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS 2024

As you read our International Programs Report, we hope you take pride in what we have accomplished together. Thank you for supporting a solution that gives marginalized communities the same level of service that we enjoy—a household tap, toilet, and a place to bathe right at the home.
Piped Water Construction Standards:
Click here
Water systems should be constructed and operated with the same best practices no matter where they are located. The extra time and resources invested in the proper design and proper construction that implementers and the community make in the design and construction stages will reduce the water system’s operations and maintenance costs and will improve system dependability fifty years into the future.

Because piped water networks that supply safe water 24/7 are rare, especially in rural areas, new competencies in design and construction also need to be developed in order to meet the targets of SDG6. To aid in that process, we are sharing Version 1 of Piped Water Construction Standards. We welcome feedback from implementers to continue to improve these standards. Tremendous thanks to Steve Deem and Nancy Feagin of the Washingston State Department of Health for developing this document. For questions and feedback, please contact Steve Deem.
International Programs Q&A Sessions

Kenya Program Update
March 9, 2023

Introducing our new Kenya partners
October 31, 2022

Bangladesh Virtual Site Visit
March 15, 2022

Honduras partner Q&A
December 9, 2021

The value of investing in local partners
March 30, 2021

We Empower Communities
We prepare communities to independently own and operate their projects. They receive extensive training to build, operate, and maintain their water projects in perpetuity. Community members are involved in every step of the process; they provide the volunteer labor to build the project and elect a local water committee to govern their system. The end result is a community managed project that lasts.
We Enable Female Leaders
Women serve in key leadership roles in the governance and maintenance of their water and sanitation systems. Since women are traditionally responsible for water collection, they receive the greatest direct benefit from a water project. An important role as a water committee member or hygiene promoter enhances women’s skills, making them stronger, more respected community members.
We Provide Consistent Support
Each local office employs water, sanitation, and public health professionals who know best how to identify, design, and build appropriate technologies. They are experts in community organizing and empowerment. Consistent funding enables our partners to engage in long-term strategic planning, retain qualified staff, and maintain strong relationships with local community leaders. This approach also allows us to saturate a region with water and toilet projects.

Since 2005

million raised
$ 0
projects completed
0
people with clean water
100000

Where we work

We are providing consistent funding to 4 country programs – in Central America, Asia and Africa. Three of our programs serve rural communities. In Bangladesh, our projects serve the urban poor. These countries were selected because of their need for water and toilets and strong local partner organizations.

Stories from the field