According to Water.org, an estimated 842,000 people globally die every year of diseases caused by inadequate sanitation and drinking water – approximately 2,300 people per day.
As part of its company mission to solve the world’s most critical water challenges, Xylem has launched Waterdrop, a loyalty programme that enables consulting engineers to bring safe, clean water to communities in need through their daily work.
Waterdrop participants collect water drops, or loyalty points, by learning about, selecting or specifying Xylem products and services for Commercial Building Services (CBS) applications. For every drop, Xylem will donate $1 dollar (USD) to build water towers for people who lack access to a water supply.
Each drop also serves as an entry into the draw to win the experience of a lifetime – a volunteer trip to construct and install these water towers.
Waterdrop volunteer trips
The first Waterdrop volunteer trip took place in May. Xylem took 14 volunteers from the UK, France and Germany to the Philippines for a week to build two water towers at two elementary schools, serving nearly 1,000 young people, their families and the community. Participants engaged in hard, physical work to construct and install the towers, while also educating the children on the importance of clean water.
Daniel Gregory, public health engineer with Bailey Associates located in the UK, described the trip as enlightening and a great opportunity to help the underprivileged.
“Building the towers gave me a feeling of great satisfaction,” he said. “The children were fantastic. I loved seeing them drink potable water at the schools for the first time. Waterdrop made that possible.”
Waterdrop volunteer trips are made possible through a partnership with Xylem Watermark, the company’s philanthropic corporate citizenship programme. The towers are designed for quick construction with a one-day installation and easy manual maintenance. They operate without power, last up to 10 years, and use an Ultra Filtration filter to produce 10,000 litres of clean water each day – enough to provide 1,000 people with sustainable access to clean water.
About Waterdrop
Partners interested in getting involved, must create an account with buildings.xylem.com, which also hosts a dedicated portal where participants can track and collect water drops, learn more about the programme and any upcoming activities.
Water drops (i.e., loyalty points) are earned by interacting with Xylem in one or more of three ways:
Water drops collected from all participants define the number of water towers that are built each year. Every drop earned is also an entry into the draw to win a Waterdrop volunteer trip – the next trip will take place on July 8, 2016. This way, all future water towers donated from the program will be built by Waterdrop members.
“Waterdrop is setting a new standard in the industry. It highlights our commitment to providing global access to clean water and serves as a bridge to Xylem Watermark, empowering our business partners to address water issues worldwide,” said Peter Agneborn, global business unit leader, commercial building services, Xylem.
“The benefits of getting involved are exponential; the more our partners engage with us, the more lives we can change together.”
To learn more about Waterdrop, or to start helping make a difference, create a Waterdrop account by visiting buildings.xylem.com.
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