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The right to water entitles each person to…

Available
You need a sufficient and regular quantity of H2O for personal use. The amount should be based in health guidelines (like those of the WHO), but tailored to local contexts.
 
Safe
It might not be $6 water from the Alps, but it should be free of contamination and it shouldn't pose any threat to your health.
 
Acceptable
"Quality" H2O – much like "quality" anything, has an acceptable color, smell and taste. Water's quality determines its desirability – and people should easily be able to tell which sources are safe to drink.
 
Accessible
You shouldn't have to expend an unreasonable amount of time or effort to get H2O. Accessible H2O is available to all individuals physically and economically – with access points close to every home, workplace and institution.
 
& Affordable
"Economic Accessibility" is just a fancy way of saying "doesn't cost so much that you can't afford other essentials." For some, this may mean water has to be free.
 
 

…water for personal and domestic use.

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A Human Rights
Based Approach to Water

Our efforts to dig wells, improve sanitation and advance hygiene are only made truly
sustainable when water access is recognized as an inalienable human right.

But recognizing a right to water seems so simple. How does it help?

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Human rights create ownership. A right to water encourages people to participate in the bodies and mechanisms that control their water access. It also opens these bodies to constructive criticism.

Human rights motivate the big guys. Recognition of a human right encourages governments to justify their efforts as working toward water access, making actions that do the opposite more shameful.

Human rights change perspectives. A human right to water forces all of us to see water poverty as a situation of injustice – not simply misery or misfortune.

Human rights are sharp tools. Communities, organizations, individuals – even government agents – can use the right to water to hold responsible parties accountable.

Human rights encourage subsidiarity. What's that, you say? Human Rights open and decentralize control over water resources, allowing access to information and genuine participation at the local and regional levels.

Human rights prioritize the poor. By recognizing a human right to water, governments recognize their responsibility to first assist the poorest and
most marginalized.

Human rights make sense. The simple act of recognizing a human right to water creates a logical, level playing field from which discussions of humane economics, smart infrastructure and human development may grow.

Human rights draw us together. They're one way of recognizing a transcendent moral order – a global moral conscience that manifests itself throughout the philosophies, religions and cultures of the world.

Human rights put humans first. A human right to water forces human dignity back to the center of resource decisions – recognizing the incredible gift human life is in every place and time.

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The Water Crisis by the Numbers:

More than half of sub‐Saharan Africans lack access to an improved source of drinking water.

Due to a lack of technology and infrastructure, less than 4% of Africa's renewable water is used on an annual basis. Many
are literally standing over the water needed to save their lives.

You only need to flush your toilet three times to use more water than most in the Global South use all day to clean, cook, drink and bathe. In 1982 you would only have needed to flush once.

Diarrhea is a largely preventable, yet more children have died from it in the past decade than all the people killed in all the wars since World War II.

An estimated 12 million die every year from a lack of safe drinking water.

Nearly 4500 children die every day from waterborne diseases. That's 1.5 times the number of people that died in the World Trade Center on September 11th.

Over 80% of diseases in the developing world are linked to poor drinking water and sanitation.

Asian and African women walk an average of 3.75 miles a day to collect water – carrying between 40-80 pounds of water home to their families. They often wait up to 5 hours just to fill their containers.

Hate baggage fees? Next time you pay $25 to check your 45 lb bag – think of African women who must carry 50 lbs of water for 3.75 miles when $25 could buy them clean water access in their village for life…

There's just not enough time! Women are not only the ones most often responsible for water collection, they're also responsible for taking care of those suffering from waterborne disease.

In some parts of Africa, nearly 85% of a woman's daily caloric intake is expended collecting water…

At any given moment half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by people suffering from water-related disease.

If all of the world's water were forced into a single bucket, only one tablespoon would be fit to drink.

The average American uses 100 gallons of water a day. Water is so abundant in the United States that some of it is not even metered.

An estimated investment of $9 billion would be enough to provide universal access to clean drinking water. In 2010, the United States spent an average of $10 billion a month in Iraq.

Unless something is done, over 75 million people will die from water-related disease by 2020.

When the United Nations drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, water was not among the entitlements listed. The General Assembly only recognized a right to water in 2010.

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But let's look on the bright side.

When we help people exercise their right to water,
individuals and communities are transformed.
Here's how:

  • Health
  • Life
  • Community
 
  • Simple hygiene, taught in conjunction with well construction and proper sanitation, can cut the number of water‐related deaths by 65%.
  • Creating access to a clean source of water at home eliminates the possibility of contracting diseases like e‐coli, cholera and hepatitis from unsafe sources.
  • Regular water consumption reduces the risk of dehydration, regulates body temperature, moves vital nutrients, protects the organs, promotes healing, and helps ensure good health.
  • Clean water and sanitation encourage school attendance, especially among girls. Education means a greater chance for future economic success. It also equips men and women with the tools they need to positively impact their communities.
  • Access to a local source of water may mean that a young boy or girl avoids an instance of rape, kidnapping or forced labor during travel.
  • Extra household water can be used to keep a garden or small animal – new tool to help a family achieve economic and food security.
  • The construction of water and sanitation facilities is often accompanied by the establishment of democratic well governance, inclusive of women and minorities.
  • Every dollar invested in a water/sanitation project can be expected to generate $8-12 in economic returns. Often, water access is the only natural constraint to local economic growth.
  • When women and children don't have to travel to collect water, their communities are safer, more stable, and more economically productive.
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DigDeep Promote
Punching a Borehole
It all starts here. DigDeep identifies a need, plans a dig, and brings clean water to
those who have been living without it. Real simple.
 
Sanitation and Hygiene Workshops
Water – as clean as it may be – is not nearly as transformative without proper
training in basic sanitation and hygiene. Hand washing alone decreases the chance
of contracting a fatal waterborne illness by 45%. Plus, without safe sanitation
practices, well water can become contaminated by runoff or latrine seepage. A
single gram of fecal water can contain up to 10 million viruses, 1 million bacteria,
1000 parasite cysts and 100 worm eggs. Gross.
 
Democratic Well Governance
A well is not only an opportunity to radically improve human health; it's also an
opportunity to promote social cohesion and gender inclusion. Each and every
borehole constructed by DigDeep is governed by a small group of locally‐elected
leaders. For many women and minorities, this is the first chance they've had to take
an active leadership role in their communities.
 
Human Rights Education
Human rights‐based change begins with local empowerment – convincing
stakeholders to take responsibility for their rights in the face of adversity. That's
why we incorporate a human rights focus into all of our field activities, from drilling
to hygiene training. Awareness breeds activism, and activism breeds change.
 
Partner NGOs
"If it ain't broke don't fix it." That's certainly not our motto – but there may be something to it. DigDeep works with specially selected partner NGOs in the field to identify need, evaluate drill sites and punch boreholes. Many of these organizations – large and small – have been on the ground for years, and have both the experience and network necessary to effect real, lasting change.

We don't, however, just cut them a check. Far from it. DigDeep is involved in every stage of project preparation: from planning, to budgeting, to oversight. Where possible, we're even present at the drill sites ourselves – digging, training, empowering. Most importantly, DigDeep ensures that our partner NGOs become a part of our Human Rights Based Approach. We capitalize on our working relationships to influence local, regional and national governments for the cause. When wells do break, or when a village grows or changes, our partners on the ground are among the first to know – ensuring a quick response.
 
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DigDeep is in the process of applying for our own 501(c)3. Your donation is currently tax-deductible because of our fiscal sponsor. You will receive a donation receipt to your email or physical address with this information.