Corporate Social Responsibility

Giving Back to the Society, BORE HOLE PROJECTS

Volunteering your time to support a cause you are passionate about is something you will never regret. It will enrich your life, familiarize you with your community, and connect you to people and ideas that will positively impact your perspective for the rest of your life. Helping your community is an opportunity for you to grow as a person, to better understand how you fit into the world around you.

Water is critical to life, but it is also a limited resource and several interrelated factors are decreasing its availability. These factors include climate changes, increasing demand, lowered water tables and environmental degradation. There is also the growing threat of international and intercommunity disputes over water supplies. It is important, therefore, that communities manage their water resources better and supply water for specific uses. For most people, it is not a problem to obtain the minimum amount of water necessary to sustain life. Rather, problems relate to the quantities of water required for different activities (resource allocation) and the quality of the water available (source suitability). Many places with water shortages actually receive abundant rainfall and community-based initiatives could alleviate water scarcity. Such initiatives may incorporate traditional approaches and include water management and conservation measures; sustainable rates of extraction; sustainable crop production; catchment protection; rainwater harvesting; and soil conservation.

Providing community water supplies to promote community health an easily accessible water supply should be available that provides sufficient safe water to meet community needs. Household water needs can be estimated by questioning community members about their daily water use. If this is not possible, a minimum water need can be calculated by assuming that the average person uses 25 litres per day for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. More water will be needed for laundry, but this may be available from other sources such as rivers or ponds. To ensure that the water is potable, either the water supply should be protected or the water should be treated before use. Low-risk water supplies for drinking and other domestic uses can be provided to communities in many ways. Often, unprotected water sources, such as springs, traditional wells and ponds, can be improved and this may be preferable to constructing completely new supplies. However, unprotected sources are open to contamination and pose a potential health risk. Community hygiene programmes should therefore promote the use of protected drinking-water sources.