Xylem Watermark & Project 24: Mendwan, India

Mendwan is a small village located approximately 80 kilometers from the city of Thane in Maharashtra. Despite being located on the primary National Highway, the village still faces many challenges in respect to hygiene and sanitation practices. Teachers often visit students who are sick from water-related illnesses because of their high absences from school. For this reason and many others, clean water and hygiene education in this village is a necessity.

A bore well next to the school is the only source of water for the entire village. On average, children and women walk 500-600 meters to carry water home after collection. Villagers here practice farming to earn their livelihood and also keep cattle nearby their houses for additional income. The cattle, and their waste, further complicates the health conditions with added contamination to their households.

As part of Planet Water Foundation’s Project 24, Xylem Watermark sponsored the deployment of an AquaTower at the Govt. Ashram School in Mendwan. Thirteen Xylem employees volunteered to help build the AquaTower and teach the students about water hygiene. With the intervention of Xylem Watermark and Planet Water Foundation, access to clean, safe water will be a reality.

“We are very excited to hear that we will be receiving the water filtration soon. It will help us with drinking water. We do not have access to drinking water sometimes because it is not easy to access. This will be at our school and we can drink healthy water every day.”  - A fourth-grade student

Read the complete article on planet-water.org.

About Xylem Watermark

Xylem Watermark, Xylem’s corporate citizenship program, provides and protects safe water resources for many of the world’s most vulnerable communities and educates individuals around the globe about water issues. This social commitment reflects Xylem’s ethos of valuing the “triple bottom-line:” financial, environmental and social. The company firmly believes in the notion of doing well by doing good, and dedicates resources to initiatives that demonstrate its commitment.

Xylem Watermark was founded in 2008 and, with its six nonprofit partners, has provided clean water and sanitation solutions to over three million people in 25 countries. Xylem launched its first Global Month of Service in October 2016 to provide a focused time to inspire employees to get involved and bring the mission of Xylem Watermark to their communities. In 2017, Xylem Watermark launched the Make Your Mark 30 Day Challenge to engage employees in solving global and local water issues in ways about which they are passionate.

To learn more about Xylem Watermark, please visit http://www.xylemwatermark.com.