Carrying water is a daily reality for women and girls around the globe. Challenge yourself this Friday the 20^th of March as we raise funds to equip engineers around the Pacific to put an end to walking for water.

Clean, safe drinking water doesn’t appear in your tap by accident. Behind the scenes engineers work hard to make sure our water is free of contaminants and is readily available to all. We’ve gotten so good at this that most New Zealanders take clean water for granted, however in many places in the world access to water isn’t so easy - 29% of the population still does not have access to a ‘safely managed’ drinking water service, and that the burden of acquiring water for their families falls disproportionately to women. In parts of Africa and Asia, this burden is an average of 20 L carried six kilometers.

As engineers and humanitarians, we at EWBNZ find these statistics unacceptable, and are working hard to build the capacity of local engineers so that they can design, operate and maintain locally sourced supplies in a culturally appropriate context.

Join us in our annual Walk for Water to help us raise funds to make sure life-saving engineering capability is accessible to everyone.

How it works

On Friday the 20th of March at 4pm we will get together to walk roughly 6km through the Auckland CBD, each carrying a 20 litre jerry can of water. It won’t be all trudgery though, this year Watercare, Stantec, Harrison Grierson, Beca and GHD have all stepped up to the plate and are going to host a waystation where you will get to take a break, and participate in a team challenge.

I'M IN! WHAT'S NEXT?

Get a team together (4-5 people) and get in touch with Kylie at [email protected]. The team will then assist you to get a fundraising page going, and to share your story in weekly social media posts.

If you don’t have a team, get in touch, we will connect you with others.