Water Project

 

Help us work with local engineers to install affordable water systems, and provide safe drinking water for Afghan communities suffering from disease and dehydration.    
Only 13% of Afghans have access to water that has officially been 'improved' by the local authorities; almost 96% of people living in rural areas still rely on unsafe drinking water.

Villagers often walk miles to access water from contaminated wells, rivers and springs.

Some have to make the journey several times a day to meet the sanitation, food preparation and farming needs of their families.

It's an exhausting and often dangerous activity, especially during the winter months when walking routes become hazardous with the snow.

The amount of time spent collecting water adds to the cycle of rural poverty; adults are prevented from earning a living and children are prevented from going to school.

Outbreaks of diarrhoea and dysentery are also common in the country.

According to UNICEF, thousands of Afghan children die from diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases every year.

Some rural areas don't have access to any water because local sources were either destroyed in the war or have dried up. Villagers in these regions are forced to walk even further, or forced to spend their money buying expensive bottled water they can't afford.

Aryana Aid has been working with local engineers to supply safe water to hundreds of villages across rural Afghanistan. 

We have also introduced safe water supplies to overcrowded urban areas with a high number of rural migrants and returning refugees.

Read about the people of Pol e Pashto, in their own words translated from Dari:

'We have endured years of destruction and drought in our country.

'As a consequence, thousands of people have left their villages to find food and work in the city.

'The number of people in Kabul is increasing daily and the combination of poverty, air pollution and dirty water is adding to death and disease in the city.

'There are 50 families in total in Pol e Pashto in Herat.

'We were finding it difficult to access clean water for everybody, and so we tried to work together and dig a well for ourselves but were unsuccessful.

'We didn't have the knowledge to complete the project or the money to hire a specialist that could help us.

'We approached FOS and explained our concerns about the lack of water in 
Pol pashto district

'Volunteers from the charity helped us complete the paperwork needed to apply for a water pump, which the charity supplied and installed.

'We now have safe drinking water for the people in Dasht-e-Barchi, as well as outsiders visiting the district looking for safe water supplies '.

By donating £600 or £50 per month over 12 months, you can provide a new hand pump for 300 Afghan people. By donating £1200 or £100 per month over 12 months, you can provide a new water well for 900 Afghan people.