Fighting Water Scarcity and Disease: Kenya's Sand Dam Revolution

The Filter X360 uses gravity to purify water without requiring any power supply or chemicals by using ultrafiltration technology to remove bacteria and viruses from fresh water sourced from nearby rivers, lakes and ponds. The machine can purify 1,000 liters per hour and reduces the risk of illness and also prevents locals from having to purchase bottled water or simply go without clean drinking water.

The Cherokee Nation is addressing long-standing water insecurity and infrastructure challenges through proactive investments triggered by the passage of the Wilma P. Mankiller & Charlie Soap Water Act. By shifting from emergency fixes to long-term planning, the tribe has funded targeted infrastructure upgrades, leveraged state and federal partnerships, and used precise data assessments to pinpoint urgent community needs.

Community members, in collaboration with the non-profit Save the Children and the United States Agency for International Development, installed a solar-powered borehole earlier this year, making clean water more accessible to the village. Community members regularly clean the water taps and perform system maintenance to ensure the water supply isn’t disrupted, as the solar-powered solution has become their primary source of clean water.

In a village facing water scarcity, generous locals with funds to spare are installing boreholes in their homes with pumps outside for other residents in the village to access clean, safe water.

The Network of Water Rights Initiative (NWRI) works with local organizations to improve access to safe water through education and awareness campaigns aimed at enlightening people about the health risks of contaminated water. NWRI has led water clean-up efforts, helped locals establish security measures to prevent people from dumping waste in water and even helped get a water bill signed into law that would improve water supply and sanitation services across the state.

As a result of locals writing to their political representatives, the Nigerian government began a borehole intervention project to provide more than 2,000 residents with clean, easily accessible water. The project also provided a generator to address the village’s lack of power supply and residents pay N20 ($0.02) to access the borehole, which covers the cost of running the generator.

To combat health and sanitary issues arising from high rates of open defecation and a lack of government support, community members worked together to fund and build 14 easily accessible toilets that are cleaned daily and open for anyone to use.

Baghdad resident Murtadha Al-Tameemi started organizing weekly clean ups at the banks of the Tigris river earlier this year, but it soon became a grassroots movement called Clean Iraq and encouraged residents to organize similar events across the country. In a place long-affected by war, it serves not just as an important effort and opportunity to save the river but to rebuild peace, cooperation, and a sense of normalcy.

Architect Kalpana Ramesh and the Rainwater Project, supported by Telangana's government, are restoring centuries-old abandoned stepwells as functional water sources by removing decades of accumulated garbage, rebuilding stone structures, and installing rainwater-harvesting systems. Since the first restoration was completed in December 2022, the well has consistently maintained a water depth of nine meters, even during the summer, providing clean water for the first time in 40 years. To date, 25 stepwells have been restored across Telangana.

The community-run Water Consumer Association in Adamawa manages and maintains a solar-powered borehole system installed in 2022 by Mercy Corps and WaterAid. Trained volunteers handle operations, repairs, and hygiene promotion while charging households each month for maintenance costs. Four years after installation, the system continues serving approximately 200 households with clean water. Community members also report less fear of disease from contaminated river sources.