Our impact goes beyond clean water, supporting multiple Sustainable Development Goals
WaterHarvest to close in 2027, our 40th Anniversary year. Although this is sad news, our anniversary feels like an appropriate milestone to bring the charity to a close and we have much to celebrate from our four decades of rainwater harvesting. Find out more here.
A staggering 2.2 billion people still lack access to safely managed drinking water.
Four out of five people living without at least basic drinking water services, are in rural areas.
Source: The United Nations World Water Development Report 2024.
Our water harvesting programmes are a lifeline for the remote rural communities where we work, providing not only clean drinking water but improved personal hygiene & health benefits.
The number of people facing hunger and food insecurity has been rising since 2015, with the pandemic, conflict, climate change and growing inequalities worsening the situation.
Source: UN DESA. 2023. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition – July 2023.
Our water harvesting tanks in Uganda are enabling many schools to provide pupils meals for the first time and for schools to grow cabbages, maize & bananas in their gardens.
In sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than two-thirds of children complete primary school*. In Uganda pupils miss lessons to collect water and poor sanitation leads to girls dropping out of school once they begin menstruating.
*Source: UN DESA. 2023. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition – July 2023.
In the Ugandan schools where we have installed tanks, we have seen a 26% increase in school enrolment and a 23% increase in girl’s attendance.
The UN estimates that if current trends continue, c. 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030, with most in sub-Saharan Africa*. Water and poverty are interlinked – a lack of clean water impacts food security, sanitation, livelihood opportunities & education.
*Source: UN DESA. 2023. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition – July 2023.
In Ghana we are renovating large water dugouts to ensure villagers have access to water all year round and the associated female run water services stay open.
There has been some progress on improving global health in recent years but the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing crises have impeded progress towards this Goal.
The communities we work with in Ghana and Uganda are at risk of contracting water borne diseases due to drinking water that is not clean.
Our programmes provide a clean and on-going water supply. In the Ugandan schools where we have installed tanks, attendance levels have increased due to reduced sickness levels.
The UN’s latest SDG report in 2023 states “With a climate cataclysm looming, the pace and scale of current climate action plans are wholly insufficient to effectively tackle climate change.”
The communities where we work are already being impacted by intense extreme weather events and rising temperatures.
In Uganda, the water from our tanks is being used to grow tree seedlings to plant in school gardens and distributed to parents and communities to enhance village micro-climates.
Related News
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WaterHarvest to close in 2027
This is an important update from the Chair of WaterHarvest’s Board of Trustees, Fiona Beukes: Like other UK charities, WaterHarvest has a Board of Trustees (the Board) who act as the governing body, with legal and financial responsibility for the charity. The Board determines strategic direction, with operational leadership of the charity delegated to the…
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Our third dugout is complete in Ghana
With the support of the local community, our new dugout in Kanjiyili completed in March 2026. Kanjiyili is a small rural village in the North-East Gonja District, home to 221 people. Its only source of water—a seasonal dugout—dries up each year around March, leaving the community without local water access for an average of four…
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Our new school tanks programme is progressing well
We are very pleased to report that by the end February 2026, we had completed two phases of our new programme – bringing much needed water to almost 4,000 pupils in five schools in the Masaka region! Many thanks to everyone who has donated towards our work in Uganda, we are really grateful for your support.
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Our Annual Review for 2024/25
We are pleased to share our latest Annual Review for April 2024 – March 2025. We report much success with our on-going rainwater harvesting programmes in Uganda, Ghana and our final programme in India. We continue to work in remote locations, where climate change greatly affects communities still lacking access to a source of clean water close to their homes or schools.…
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We complete our dugout project in Tacpuli, Ghana
In remote regions of Ghana year round streams are rare and ground water is often inaccessible, so communities collect rainwater in dugouts but these are now drying out for several months at a time due to climate change. This means villagers, especially women and young girls have to walk very long distances to find often…
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Works almost complete on our school tanks programme in Uganda!
Works have started on the final tanks in our two year programme to bring much needed water to remote schools in Uganda. By the end of July, with the support of our donors we will have built 107 eco-block rainwater roof harvesting tanks in 22 schools supporting over 10,000 pupils and staff! Our tanks generate…
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Dugout success in Sinsina,Ghana
We are so happy to share the news that following our renovation works, the dugout in Sinsina which is usually dry this time of year, is full of water! In remote regions of Ghana year round steams are rare and ground water is often inaccessible, so communities collect rainwater in dugouts but these are now…
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Our new Annual Review!
We are delighted to share our latest Annual Review for the previous financial year, April 2023 – March 2024. During the year we delivered four rainwater harvesting programmes in India. We also commenced a new programme in Uganda with our local partner ‘Masaka District Land Care Chapter’ (MADLACC) and a pilot programme in Ghana with our local partner Saha…
