World Water Day 2014: Water in war and peace

21-03-2014

The ICRC has been supplying water during conflict for 150 years. The need is obvious. But we also help communities rebuild water systems longer-term, creating solutions that are sustainable and will go on providing water for many years to come.

On the occasion of World Water Day, we're highlighting the difference that our water and habitat engineers make in just three of the many countries where we work.

World Water Day 2014

  • Afghanistan: Where disability is no handicap when it comes to water

    Fighting displaced some 450 families, including more than 1,000 people with disabilities, to a village where there was not enough water for everyone. With the support of the ICRC and local authorities, they have now ensured their own water supply.


  • In many rural parts of Yemen, the ICRC repairs entire water networks, providing a sustainable water supply. Yemen: Keeping the water flowing

    Yemen is a country of many woes, drought being one of the worst. According to hydrologists, the capital Sana'a will run out of water by 2025. This would make it the first capital in the world to do so. The reason? An environmental crisis that dates back to the seventies, when oil-drilling technology was used to pump the soil dry.


  • One of the 103 water tanks supplied by the ICRC. Colombia: “When the water tanks arrived, the whole village celebrated”

    Seven out of ten people in the village of Tamaje, on the Pacific Coast of Colombia, were falling ill from drinking contaminated water. The ICRC resolved the problem by installing rainwater storage tanks outside every house, the school and the local clinic.


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