Kenya's female water tank masons are delivering measurable benefits to their communities and empowering other women to take up leadership roles.

The company that manufactures Lifestraw, a water purification device, has found a way to distribute their product to impoverished Kenyan families for free, while still making a profit. In the global carbon credit market, businesses receive carbon credits for projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These credits can then be sold to companies who need to offset their carbon emissions, allowing green companies to make a profit off of their small ecological footprint.

In many rural communities in India, access to clean drinking water is still scarce. The cost of bottled water is prohibitive, city pipes are in poor condition, and the municipal tanker trucks that supply some water are haphazard. But a social business called Sarvajal is busy scaling up a solution: a water ATM. These machines allow people to scan a pre-paid card and withdraw purified water from a stable, convenient source within their community when needed.

The Kuttemperoor river in Alappuzha district of Kerala, India was once treated as a source for water and food stability. After years of illegal sand mining and construction sites dumping sewage, the river was unrecognizable to those that had once known its clean shores. As water scarcity became a reality for the small village of Budhanoor, and government action seemed unlikely, a group of 700 villagers - mostly women - banded together and spent 70 days physically de-silting and revitalizing the 12-kilometer long river.

In war zones, people have a difficult time finding clean water and safe areas to inhabit. Social media, smart phones, and technology applications are aiding in people’s survival. In Aleppo, Syria, the International Committee of the Red Cross posted a map on Facebook to show alternative sources of clean drinking water that reached approximately 140,000 people.

MIT engineers created a cost-efficient solution to the lack of potable water in rural India. They built a solar-powered desalination model, which won the Desal Prize at the "Securing Water for Food" challenge.