At what cost? How Access to Water Unlocks Everything Else
Every person on earth needs access to water.
NewsImpactWater AccessOur world
3 minutes read
The real question, says Gary White, co-founder of Water.org and WaterEquity, is what it costs them: in money, in health, or in hours of their lives.
It’s a question at the heart of a conversation between Gary and our CEO, Kris Licht.
The stakes are hard to overstate. More than 2 billion people lack access to safe water, more than 3 billion lack adequate sanitation, and every single day women and girls will spend large parts of their day walking to collect water for their families. For us at Reckitt, this is not a cause on the sidelines; water is foundational to good health and hygiene, and to delivering better health in more hands every day. It’s why we’ve partnered with Water.org and WaterEquity since 2019.
One woman, one loan, one flourishing life
Travelling together in Kenya last year, Kris and Gary met Theresia, who used to spend four hours a day collecting water that wasn’t even safe to drink. Through Water Credit, Water.org’s programme helping local banks design loans for water and sanitation, she took out a small loan for a water tank. Then, for a well to carry her through the dry season. Then a pump to irrigate crops, improving her family’s nutrition, then finally a toilet. She was even able to start selling water to a nearby construction site as a small business.
“Entrepreneurial spirit is distributed evenly around the world, but opportunity is not. With water, people get the opportunity to tap into that spirit.”
Gary White
co-founder of Water.org and WaterEquity
A model that works at scale
What makes this approach different is that it treats people as customers with agency, not recipients of charity, and the numbers prove it works. Every dollar of philanthropy leverages more than $20 of investment capital. WaterEquity has deployed over half a billion dollars through a network of more than 200 financial partners, helping reach more than 92 million people with safe water through loans worth over $8 billion.
A partnership built on synergy
Kris is clear about why this matters to Reckitt: it’s the right thing to do and the productive thing to do; creating stronger communities can lead healthier lives, which is core to why Reckitt exists. Gary agrees that he has never seen a partnership with more synergy. Reckitt has invested in three WaterEquity funds and is reinvesting returns back into the philanthropic model, creating a virtuous circle that expands the network and brings new financial institutions on board. Together, the partnership is on track to reach five million people with water by 2030. But as Kris says: “We don’t want to celebrate anything before we solve this problem for good.”
Get involved
Watch the full conversation below, share it with a colleague, and ask yourself: what did the water you used this morning really cost?
Share to
Our Latest Stories
Discover how Reckitt’s people and brands are making a difference every day. From breakthrough innovations to community impact, explore the stories that drive our mission.
.jpg?width=634&height=422&format=webp&quality=60)
.jpg?width=634&height=356&format=webp&quality=60)
