Blog > How Clean Water Impacts Education

How Clean Water Impacts Education

Waterboys Team

May 18, 2021

It’s an undeniable truth that education plays a critical role in breaking the cycle of poverty. Yet in places like Tanzania, only 26% of boys and 24% of girls make it to secondary school.

Why?

One major contributing factor is lack of access to clean water. Students will miss school as they deal with pains and issues related to water-related disease. Others will not have time to attend school because their days are already filled with long trips to collect water for their families. And others will have to stay in their homes to care for sick parents or siblings who are also suffering from water-related ailments and disease.

In fact studies have found that 443 million school days are lost every year because of water-related diseases and 1/3 of all schools in the world lack access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

But there is a direct correlation between water access and education.

Reductions in time spent collecting water have been found to increase school attendance. Educated individuals then have better job prospects and a greater capacity to generate income. Simply put, education equals more opportunity and it all starts with clean water access.

Learn more about how clean water impacts communities, and how you can make a difference by joining our Wave monthly giving program and helping us bring clean water to one million people.

Press Release: First Project with Ross & Squibb Completed

      ST. LOUIS, Jan. 17, 2024 — Lawrenceburg, Indiana-based Ross & Squibb Distillery, in partnership with NFL legend Chris Long and his Foundation’s Waterboys initiative, announced the completion of their combined efforts to bring a lasting source of clean, safe water to a community of 1,600 people in arid southern Kenya. In Summer 2023, a deep borehole well […]
Learn More
Hometown H2O

The Dittmans’ Journey to Water Security

In a Parker, Pennsylvania home rich with history, the Dittman family faced an increasingly challenging daily routine. Their household, passed down through generations, drew water from a natural spring on the property. Over the years, this spring, once a consistent source, had become unpredictable. Its flow diminished, especially during the dry seasons, leaving the family […]
Learn More
World Water Week

Women Bear the Burden When There is No Water

WORLD WATER WEEK 2023 Women in Kenya experience greater inequality when there is no access to clean water. But why? Nearly 900,000 people without basic drinking water live in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 7 out of 10 households without a clean water source place the onus of collecting water on women and girls. As a result, […]
Learn More