TRIPURASUNDARI RURAL MUNICIPALITY, DHADING DISTRICT, Nepal--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tearfund, a global charity dedicated to tackling poverty through sustainable development, today launched a partnership to bring SOURCE Global’s innovative drinking water technology to Nepalese communities in urgent need of a safe, local drinking water solution.
While much of Nepal has abundant water resources, 1 in 10 residents are without clean, safe water to drink. The most vulnerable communities are in remote, rural areas that can’t be reached with traditional infrastructure and have no source of water nearby. Women and girls are disproportionately burdened with the task of carrying clean water long distances through the mountainous terrain. The time spent by Nepalese women carrying water comes at the cost of their education, employment and in many cases their health, with an estimated 600,000 Nepalese women suffering from uterine prolapse caused by carrying water uphill.
Interventions that directly reduce the time spent gathering water can be transformational for women and their economic well-being. Every dollar that is invested in clean drinking water infrastructure at the point of consumption drives exponential value creation in the form of health, education, rural income and development opportunities for women and girls.
The SOURCE® Hydropanel offers such a local, climate-resilient solution. The company’s first-of-its kind technology uses only the sun to draw water vapor out of the air and transform it into clean, safe drinking water. The system operates without an external source of electricity, requires no traditional water infrastructure, and can produce a large volume of clean, high-quality drinking water where it’s needed. Hydropanel arrays can scale from two-panel systems for single families to large water farms that serve entire communities, and the technology is now being used in more than 50 countries across multiple applications.
“Access to clean, safe water is not only a fundamental human right, it’s part of a broad set of solutions to fight poverty and contribute to strengthening vulnerable people’s capacity for climate resilience,” said Durga Prasad Upadhyay - Environmental and Economic Sustainability Advisor for Asia Region of Tearfund. “Multiple Nepalese communities are in dire need of a stable drinking water supply, but we’ve seen traditional infrastructure and water pumping programs fail time and time again. In these places, technology like the SOURCE Hydropanel is truly the only viable solution.”
Tearfund and SOURCE will collaborate with NGOs and governments to identify Nepalese communities in need and install and maintain Hydropanel arrays using local labor.
“Our technology has the power to make safe drinking water a renewable and hyper-local resource, but we can’t do it alone,” said Rob Bartrop of SOURCE Global. “Partnerships with organizations like Tearfund help raise awareness of the social and economic value that can be created by supporting the health, education and empowerment of women in vulnerable communities. We’re proud to work with them to bring our technology to communities living with the day-to-day burden of walking long distances to find clean drinking water.”
About Tearfund
Tearfund is a Christian charity that partners with churches and local NGOs in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries. We tackle poverty through sustainable development, responding to disasters and challenging injustice. We believe an end to extreme poverty is possible. Tearfund is also a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee. For more information about the work of Tearfund, please visit www.tearfund.org.
About SOURCE Global, PBC
A Public Benefit Corporation, SOURCE Global, PBC’s mission is to make drinking water an unlimited resource. The company’s SOURCE® Hydropanels create drinking water using sunlight and air as the only inputs, and can put the power of safe, sustainable drinking water in the hands of every person in nearly every climate and corner of the world. SOURCE is on Fast Company’s 2020 list of most innovative social good companies. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company operates in more than 50 countries and on six continents. SOURCE is a registered trademark of SOURCE Global, PBC. For more information, visit www.source.co and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.