God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

1.1 billion people don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water. That’s 1 in 6 people alive today.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation causes 80% of all sickness and disease, and kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. (source)

Jesus said, “Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward” (Matt. 10:42). These folks don’t have clean water, much less cold water.

What can we do? Going overseas and personally handing out cups of clean water is not practical for most of us. It’s also not very efficient compared with digging wells and teaching sanitation and ecological techniques. But one thing we can all do is give a $20 bottle of charity:

Charity:water is a non-profit initiative bringing clean water and basic sanitation into impoverished communities. Since [Charity:water] was founded and began activity in August 2006, we have funded the construction of more than 250 wells that, when completed, will provide clean drinking water to 150,000 people.

A $20 bottle of charity water can give a person in Africa clean, safe drinking water for 20 years. 100% goes to direct project costs.

That’s certainly worth $20 to me.