A 12-month corporate-backed programme to bring safe
water to neglected communities will target Bangladesh, China, India and
countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
The programme was announced during the World Economic Forum at Davos by
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the professional services group, and the Safe
Water Network, a non-profit organization set up to introduce
purification technology for producing safe water.
The first aim will be to decide on the equipment to deliver clean water
supplies to small individual communities. The technology will include a
purification system developed by a company that has a director on the
Safe Water Network Board.
After installing suitable equipment Deloitte and the Safe Water Network
want to develop various ways of providing purified water, including
creating local water entrepreneurs to ensure supplies and establishing
social investment projects to serve health clinics.
They hope their efforts will empower communities to improve their
living conditions and will lead to better health among the millions
threatened by water-borne disease.
Nearly 1.1 billion people throughout the world lack access to safe
drinking water and 90 per cent of those who die from water-related
diseases in the developing world today are children aged under five.
