WaterStep Celebrates 20 Year Anniversary, Has Ambitious Plans for 2015

WaterStep is proud to announce that the organization successfully met the full amount of the Living Water Fund, a $100,000 matching grant by an anonymous donor, by the end of 2014. The funding will enable the nonprofit to help communities around the world have access to safe water and health education, improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. What was founded 20 years ago as a small mission group of friends trying to find the best way to help others, has become an organization with global reach that has saved the lives of countless people in two dozen countries through its safe water projects.

“The Living Water Fund is as organic as WaterStep itself,” says WaterStep Founder and CEO Mark Hogg. “It was initiated by many who were a part of our vision over 20 years ago and who have given their time, talent and treasure to save lives with safe water. The Living Water Fund now creates a multiplier effect, playing an important role that furthers the momentum and connects more people with WaterStep’s mission for the next 20 years. We are thankful and blessed to live in such rich history.”

The international communities where WaterStep has laid groundwork and will complete major water projects in 2015 are located in five different countries: Nicaragua, Kenya, Costa Rica, The Philippines and Uganda.

In El Dique, Costa Rica, the 400 families who live there only have water available for one hour a day. The water they do get carries no guarantee of safety because the dirty pipes and broken water infrastructure in the town compromise the quality. WaterStep will install household water filters, a water storage unit, and a central mini water treatment plant for the town.

In Subay, The Philippines, everything that the people of this island need, including drinking water, must be ferried from the mainland. Water bought on the island costs twice as much as it does on the mainland, so for 500 families in the fishing community of Subay, the high cost of safe drinking water means that not everyone can afford it. WaterStep will install a mini water treatment system in the only elementary school on the island, teach health education in the community, and donate Waterballs so that residents can easily transport water to their homes.

To learn more about these projects or to register to join a project, call (502) 568-6342 or visit waterstep.org.

The organization will also host several training courses throughout the year in both Water Treatment & Health Education and Well Repair. Registration is available online at waterstep.org.

About WaterStep
WaterStep, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is a 501(c)(3) organization that works to fight the global water crisis by empowering communities with the training and technology to provide safe, sustainable water and hygiene solutions. WaterStep has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in almost two dozen countries including Haiti, Kenya, India, the Dominican Republic, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Costa Rica.