West Virginia Working for WASH

Briefing Prepared for ______

Improving Access to Clean Water Is at the Top of Americans’ Global Health Priorities

People in the state of West Virginia are leading the effort to solve the global safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) challenge. There are numerous, faith-based, civic, and academic initiatives for WASH underway throughout the state. The top programs in the state include:

a)Twenty-nine clubs from Rotary District 7550 in southern West Virginia raised $40,000 through the Water Jug Project tofinance a water project to eliminate guinea worm in Ghana.

b)The Rotary Club of Charleston-Vandaliaraised $9,000 in its Annual BBQ Bonanza to fund community and international service projects that aim to improve access to clean water in developing countries.

c)Students in the International Club at Sissonville High School hosted a school-wide Walk for Water event that raised $1,645 for a South Sudan school WASH project through H2O for Life.

Other notable efforts include:

Rotary Clubs in West Virginia

  • Rotary District 7550, Southern West Virginia
  • Raises funds annually for the District’s Water Jug Project that supports projects that provide communities in Northern Ghana with water, improved sanitation facilities, and vocational educational opportunities
  • Rotary Club of Charleston
  • Rotarian Walter Hughesled a trip to Ghana with Charleston Rotarians todrill two boreholes in the Upper East Region
  • Financially supports a $115,000 grant that finances new boreholes and rehabilitates existing boreholes in Ghana
  • Raised $11,000 for Rotary International’s Ghana Clean Water Project, the largest donation for Rotary District 7550
  • Rotary District 7530, Northern West Virginia
  • Raised funds for global clean water projects by selling plastic rain barrel sponsorships to local businesses
  • Lewisburg Rotary Club
  • Donated moneyto a project thatinstalled a water purification system in a remote community in Peru
  • Trained community members about the benefits of clean water and facilitated the formation of a village water committeefor water system operation and maintenance
  • Beckley Rotary Club
  • Hosted Walter Hughes, the leader of a partnership of 114 Rotary Clubs that develops water projects in Ghana and South Sudan, to promote awareness among members of the global water crisis
  • Participates in Rotary International water projects to raise funds in its Water Jug Projectfor the construction of wells in developing countries
  • Rotary Club of Charleston-Vandalia
  • Sponsors aWater Jug Project that raises funds for Rotary International guinea worm eradication projects

Schools Universities in West Virginia

  • Marshall University, Huntington
  • Student organization Herd Around the World, raises funds for Rotary clean water projects in West Africa by selling bottled water at student events
  • Promotes awareness among students about the global water crisis through on-campus fundraising events
  • Sissonville High School, Sissonville
  • Raised $2,295 for latrines and handwashing stations in Guatemala, a WASH project in India, and a water well in South Sudan
  • West Virginia University – Engineers Without Borders, Morgantown
  • Conducted a project assessment and constructed a water filtration system in Fiji
  • Assessed thecommunity water supply and developed a water filtration system anda filter maintenance training manual for a community in Nicaragua
  • West Virginia University, Morgantown
  • Students support the Thirst Project, an organization of students working to provide access to safe, clean drinking water to all people in Swaziland by 2022

WASH-Focused Organizations in West Virginia

  • West Virginia Section of the American Water Works Association, Charleston
  • Sponsors village water projectsin Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, and India through Water for People

For more information, please contact John Oldfield at WASH Advocates:

202.293.4049   Updated: December 2015