Who Are We
We are just a few people who work in the water treatment sector in Western Canada who have a desire to positively affect individuals who are devastated by the world water crisis.
We are a Christian based organization and believe that all people no matter where they live or what they believe are incredibly important and deserve the very most basic of necessities – “CLEAN WATER”.
Our purpose
Over the years when travelling overseas for humanitarian water work, we found that the people who were best equipped to make change were usually the people living right in those communities or villages. They didn’t necessarily need the “North American fix” but needed a solution that worked for them and the situations in which they were living.
We found that all that was required for these highly motivated individuals was a little hand up, maybe some technical expertise or some simple funding. With just a bit of assistance, they were able to make quite a difference in the problems their people were facing.
Our past
Since 2010 we have been working with these motivated individuals in countries like Haiti, Liberia, Ghana, South Sudan, and India . Along with our partner volunteers overseas, we have been doing some amazing things! Our focus is to help communities who have water-related issues because at LWF we believe “that it all starts with water” and without it, people just don’t have a chance.
We’ve also found that there is often a huge disconnect between people in North America and the water crisis that affects close to 1 billion people in the developing world. People have either not heard or have turned a blind eye to these needs.
Our future
With that in mind, we decided to do what we could to help spread the word about the world water crisis and it’s devastating effects on people today. We decided that the best place to start is with our future leaders, our children.
Our goal is to help bring awareness of this global crisis, create an appreciation for clean and abundant water that we often take for granted, and to motivate students to participate in bringing about positive change.
Our Finances
We work hard to make sure all money raised by the students goes directly to the well drilling or well rehabilitation projects for which it is intended. All money goes to local residents or businesses who can use the work to provide income for their families. We feel it is important that we do not negatively impact the local commerce; by hiring local individuals we benefit the village with a clean water source, and also inject business into that area.
Here are some samples of typical water well drilling and water well rehabilitation project (component/service) percentage budget breakdown to help you understand where the money goes. In most cases a well will supply water for 2,000 people in an approximate 2 hour radius.
new well drilling boreholes
well rehabilitation projects
Doing More With Less
Costing can vary depending on a variety of factors such as country, remoteness of the village, equipment required, depth of aquifer, and well component availability, but for a drilled borehole costing can range from $5,000 to $8,000USD. For water well rehabilitation work the range can be from $1,000 – $1,500USD.
Since we work with local community volunteers who understand their part of the world better than us we have been able to do an incredible amount of work with very few resources.