The issue of access to water has been plaguing Senegal and the wider region for years. Even communities who do have access to water regularly face interruptions to a clean and reliable supply. Without running water, basic sanitation requirements such as frequent hand-washing are impossible to meet, exacerbating the risk of rapid virus transfer among communities at an already critical time. With climate change on the rise these water issues aren’t expected to get better. The IPCC has identified West Africa as a climate-change hotspot, with climate change likely to lessen crop yields and production, with resulting impacts on food security and health.

Ourong is a small community in Senegal. Its inhabitants are living alongside the saline Casamance river on an island and used to collect salty and unsafe water from a well that was threatened of running dry. The Foundation HUM’AM and its partners and donors, supported by Elemental Water Makers, were able to finance and install a solar-powered desalination unit capable of producing 20.000 liters per day. The villagers now have direct access to treated and stored water and will be able to benefit from 40 liters of clean and reliable water per person/day, which is 10 times more than their past capacity. No more unsafe water, no more waiting for the rain!