By Calvin Cao
Meet Honorine: a round-faced restaurateur with a smile brighter than the Madagascan sun under which she works. Wearing a red tank top, she seasons and serves her signature doughnuts. It’s impossible to imagine that, not long ago, she walked six hours a day to retrieve filthy pond water.
 David Viola, IAPMO CEO |
In the spirit of the sharing of unique experiences that shape the plumbing industries in our respective nations, the following essay won IAPMO’s 2023 annual Scholarship Essay Competition. First introduced in 2009 and open to any student actively enrolled in a high school, community college, trade school, four-year accredited college or university or working in an apprentice program, the competition has elicited entries from all over the world. Written by Calvin Cao of Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, it is the next in a regular series of similar articles that will run in this magazine. |
Honorine’s story, published in Euronews, shows how water can bring a community prosperity by advancing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It all started when Charity Water, an organization similar to IWSH, built a groundwater tap beside her home. This obviously contributed to UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 6 (access to clean water and sanitation). But it doesn’t stop there.
The water immediately improved health in Honorine’s community — UN SDG No. 3. Before, her water came from a cholera-ridden pond in which animals bathed and defecated. She isn’t alone: worldwide, 2 billion drink water contaminated with faeces. No clean water also meant no handwashing, which increases the risk of diarrheal diseases by 42-45%. All in all, inadequate access to water and sanitation causes 30% of deaths in children under 5 in developing countries like Madagascar. But now, Honorine’s family had safe drinking water and a handwashing station just around the corner. “Since the installation of our clean water tap, we feel blessed. It seems like the disease has gone,” she told Euronews.
Water also immediately improved gender equality — Sustainable Development Goal No. 5. Before, Honorine rose at 3 a.m. daily, making a six-hour round trip hauling a back-breaking water jug. In 80% of households fetching water, women and girls are primarily responsible, leaving no time for jobs or leisure. Additionally, lack of proper washrooms forces women to defecate in the open, which is humiliating, and increases the risk of extramarital sexual violence by 40%. When women don’t spend their lives hauling water, they are safer. They can find work, become more independent, and escape poverty. Honorine channeled her cooking passion and opened a restaurant serving everything from meats and noodles to her beloved doughnuts. It became a community social hub. “I love to welcome people,” she told Euronews. “It’s my passion for business.”
When girls and the general population aren’t spending their days hauling water or in bed sick, they can get an education — Sustainable Development Goal No. 4. Every hour of reduction in water collection time causes a 30 percent increase in girls’ school attendance. In total, 443 million school days worldwide lost to illness would be regained if everyone had a tap like Honorine’s.
With an education, people can start businesses, grow the economy and lift themselves out of poverty — SDG Nos. 1, 8 and 9. Every hundred dollars invested in communities by organisations like IWSH in sanitation provides $400 in economic returns. In total, universal clean water access would grow the world economy by $260 billion, owing to its effects on health and education, according to UNICEF. In Honorine’s community, many were inspired by her entrepreneurship and started their own businesses. Now, her village is a small but bustling economic hub. “The community is thankful because we no longer have to go far for water,” she told Euronews. “We are happy.”
This case study beautifully illustrates Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: after the tap was built and Honorine’s survival needs (clean water) were met, she could care for her health and achieve greater independence through gender equality. Now, she and her community can chase their dreams through education and entrepreneurship, growing the economy. When economies grow, the Madagascan government has the resources to build more water taps in more communities. And the water cycle begins anew.
The policymakers behind the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals never meant them to be separate — progress on one goal inevitably furthers another. In fact, access to clean water impacts many goals I haven’t mentioned for brevity’s sake — better sewage means less waste dumped into rivers, meaning more responsible industry (Goal No. 12), and preventing damage to ecosystems (Goals Nos. 13, 14 and 15). A country made economically prosperous through water access is more stable and can maintain peace and justice (Goal No. 16).
Back to the original question: How can IWSH contribute to the SDGs?
It is already setting the cycle in motion by providing water to underserved communities worldwide. All it needs to do is to reinforce and raise awareness about the cycle as a whole.
First, IWSH should strengthen bonds between the water cycle stages.
Take sanitation (Goal No. 4) and health (Goal No. 3). We’ve discussed how handwashing keeps communities healthy, but even with proper facilities many forgo it (observant public bathrooms users will notice this isn’t limited to developing countries). Additionally, many hand washers use incorrect washing techniques. When IWSH installs a new tap, it can work with local officials to spread awareness about how many lives handwashing saves.
Another link IWSH should look to strengthen is that between sanitation (Goal No. 4) and gender equality (Goal No. 6). Remember, women are usually the ones collecting water, and they have unique sanitation needs due to pregnancy and menstruation. Yet in many water projects, only men are consulted and placed in decision-making positions, while women are assigned physical labor and maintenance work. The result is that the group that needs water the most has the least say in how it will arrive. This has consequences: the International Water and Sanitation Centre found that water projects carried out without consulting women were less effective and more poorly maintained compared to projects where women were deeply involved. IWSH should ensure it engages with local women when planning future water initiatives.
Finally, in its communications, IWSH should promote not just the impacts of its projects on water security, but also the effects of the whole water cycle it sets in motion. Demonstrating its impact on women’s rights, education, and alleviating poverty would drive more donations and attention to IWSH’s cause. As Honorine or the thousands of people IWSH has helped can attest, one tap can make all the difference.
